Inside an FDH

A few new exchanges seem to be up and running, bringing the total now to seven major exchanges servicing different areas. I’m sure Topanga will be considered part of the Los Angeles, CA exchange. There are now plenty of speed tests of everything from 5/2 all the way to 30/5.

Tampa, FL - tampfl.fios.verizon.net
Los Angeles, CA - lsanca.fios.verizon.net
Philadelphia, PA - phlapa.fios.verizon.net
Washington, DC - washdc.fios.verizon.net
New York, NY, - ny325.fios.verizon.net
Dallas, TX - dllstx.fios.verizon.net
Arlington, VA - arlington.fios.verizon.net

Another site has some nice pics of fiber being installed in Redondo Beach

In other news, my father has been offered FIOS and has an install date. So, I’m a bit jealous, but not entirely surprised as he is much closer to the CO. I’ll have pictures and full coverage of the install which I believe is set for around the 22nd of february.

iPod 2100mAh battery

Batteries are getting better. In the last few years manufactures have been able to up the capacity of batteries for portable electronics. Typically manufactures of electronics tend to use up this power by either shrinking their devices (smaller batteries) or adding power sucking features (big color screens, etc…). The good news for you, is 3rd party companies are making new batteries for your old devices.

Have a 1st or 2nd generation iPod? It originally got 10hrs of battery life. Now it gets up to 24hrs (20hrs+) with a NewerTech2100mAh battery for only $39.99! Not bad, they also have a slightly lower power 1800mAh model (15-19hrs) for $29.99 at the same place.

Another example, the iBook 500mhz started with a 3300mAh battery, my wife’s model has a 4000mAh battery and you can get a 4800mAh battery now. So if you have an old laptop with pathetic battery life, look around you may be able to breath new life in to those old laptops with a high capacity battery.

P.S. For the technically challenged, there is a service that will do it for you for $79.99 with 24hr shipping.

So far a dozen or so users from only 2 exchanges have posted speed tests of the new FIOS service, but a user in the Murrieta area is claiming he is up and running. Hopefully we will get the first west coast speed test posted shortly.

Exchanges up and running:
arlington.fios.verizon.net
dllstx.fios.verizon.net

Top speed? 28254/4503
That is some tasty bandwidth!

I’m probably breaking all sorts of internet etiquette rules here, but I think people will find this information useful. I pilfered the FPS scores from this article at tomshardware.com. So go visit them for much more detailed breakdowns of how the data was created or additional specs.

So, I just wanted to know what’s the best bang for my $$$ in video cards with recent video games like FarCry and Doom3. So a quick excel spreadsheet later, here is what I have…

			Farcry*	Doom3**	Farcry	Doom3
		Price	FPS	FPS	$/FPS	$/FPS	Lower is better
6800 Base 	$275 	60	55	$4.58 	$5.00 	$4.79
9800 Pro 	$163 	40	25	$4.08 	$6.52 	$5.30
6800 GT 	$380 	79	65	$4.81 	$5.85 	$5.33
9800 Base	$140 	35	21	$4.00 	$6.67 	$5.33
9600 Pro	$100 	22	12	$4.55 	$8.33 	$6.44
9600 Base	$75 	17	8.5	$4.41 	$8.82 	$6.62
X800 XT		$480 	92	59	$5.22 	$8.14 	$6.68
X800 Pro	$385 	71	42	$5.42 	$9.17 	$7.29
6800 Ultra	$580 	86	68	$6.74 	$8.53 	$7.64
9800 XT		$407 	45	27	$9.04 	$15.07 	$12.06

Nvidia 6800NU

ATI 9800NU

*Farcry VHQ No AA/AF 1024
**Doom3 HQ Demo1 4xAA/8xAF 1024×768

All cards 128MB

Also, there seem to be numerous reports of the 6800 Base (aka 6800NU (non-ultra)) being software unlockable to make it much faster. But, your milage may vary on finding a card that this works on.
 
 
 

This is not ment to be an all inclusive guide to installing OS X, it
isn’t supposed to be a tutorial either, nor are any of these necessarily required.
Its merely a checklist I like to go through. I hope some of you find it useful.

If anyone has any suggestions/additions, feel free to leave a comment.

Things to do when installing OS X

Nothing makes me happier than finding a tool to save me time doing things I already do. Digital photography has changed the way I deal with photos. Online galleries allow all of my friends to share in on the experience without any printing, making copies, sending files, or any of the mundane old school methods of photography.

But, I have this part of my brain that gives me great pain when I think of data loss and gives me great satisfaction in knowing I’ve achieved the greatest possible quality or when I save all data. So while I completely enjoy the benefits of using lossy formats like MP3 and JPEG, I have a strong urge to be efficient about doing so.

So at some point I learned that jpegtran can do lossless image transformations with JPEG. But, using a command line tool to do hand rotations of pictures is much too tedious to be useful on a larger scale.

Hence, EXIF. Exif is the Exchangeable Image File Format. It’s a nifty little standard for adding useful information to JPEG files such as thumbnails, camera metering modes, camera orientation and all sorts of other information that might be useful.

Now, take the jpegtran algorithm, throw in some EXIF awareness in the mix and you get exifiron! Simply type ‘exifiron *.jpg’ in a directory full of jpegs and automagically all your original jpegs are rotated to the correct orientation.

Nifty eh?

Here is a nice link to jpegclub.org that has quite a few lossless jpeg applications, including some nice easy windows binaries for those command line deprived windows users.

Last thursday (ok so I’m just getting this new site working and I’m slow) Verizon Fiber officially announced in 6 new states

They are, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.
As, obvious from my first post on the topic, we already knew about all these states with the exception of MA. I’ll have to go digging through more forums later and see where in MA they are installing.

For additional reading check out and some pictures of actual installations, check out DSL/BroadbandReports.com. Another interesting site is fios.3v3bizich.com which has forums for people to report sitings of fiber installs.

For more pictures of the same model Optical Network Terminal (ONT) check out the the Fiber Direct PDF links in the last post.

I’m currently paying a ridiculous amount for a very pathetic Internet connection. I’m way past the range for DSL and I have been resigned to deal with the fact that I wasn’t going to have a good connection any time in the near future for a reasonable price.

So, for the first couple of months my brain didn’t allow me to even acknowledge the small army of Verizon trucks that started building up in the Canyon (Topanga Canyon). Since I didn’t want to prematurely get excited and become completely preoccupied by it, I just ignored it. Well, between the official Verizon announcements and my wife actually asking the Verizon guys what they were doing, I finally had to come to terms with the reality of the situation.

Box on lines

Box before mounted on lines

Fiber Dogs

Fios (FYE-ose) is coming! FIber OpticSystem? FIberOpticS? FIber OShit! ‘FIber Optic Service’ (thx Zoli).

I’m not really sure what it means, but its good. For those who don’t understand the initial significance, fiber is going to START by giving you about 10 times what you get with a similarly priced DSL/Cable connection. It has the capability of being 100-1000x faster. The FiberDirect system they are using is capable of up to 622Mbits down and 155Mbits up.

That’s fast, very…very fast. That’s faster than your typical computer fast. That’s download a full DVD in a minute fast. Probably faster than you’re computers Ethernet (typically 10-100Mbit) and hard disk (typically 20-50MBytes/sec).

Anyway it isn’t going to be THAT fast out of the box.

It’s noteworthy that Verizon has chosen to pioneer the fiber territory (although SBC has announced in very me too like fashion a hybrid fiber network of their own which may turn out to have better economics). The RBOC’s (Regional Bell Operating Centers aka. Baby-Bells aka Verizon, SBC, BellSouth and US West/Quest) are entering in to a difficult time. Two of their primary sources of income, local and long distance phone calls are being encroached upon or wiped out. The cost of Long distance has fallen to almost nothing recently and IP Telephony only stands to shrink the market even further. The other source, local service, is being encroached upon by cable companies with wired solutions and with cell phone prices lower than ever, the wireless providers are squeezing them as well. Many users coming to the conclusion that their cell phone is all they need. So with cable providing internet, video and expanding in to voice and Wireless companies coming from the other side with slower but more convenient services, the RBOC’s need to find them selves a future.

Fiber patch bay (note garfield pencil box)

Guy outside window! BOO!

Working yet?

The Internet and Video are obvious choices, but the sheer cost of building networks is enormous. Typically with large public companies, you end up in a quagmire of sorts. If you invest large sums of money in to a network with an unknown future and soak up all the profits, share holders tend to cry bloody mercy and run you out with flaming torches. On the other hand, if you hold off too long and don’t invest in new technology, the world will pass you by and before you know it, your industry doesn’t even exist! Kodak is a good example of a company that waited too long and is now paying the price for not embracing digital with all its might early on.

Details

Verizon is going to be spending billion of dollars over the upcoming years on rolling it out to all 35million of its customers. Here is a short list of sightings i’ve compiled, this list is in NO WAY comprehensive nor does it confirm availability. I just trolled through all the forums as of today, so you don’t have to. The only confirmed area to be up and running is Keller, TX. Huntington Beach and Murrieta have been announced but not confirmed.

Huntington Beach, CA
Murrieta, CA
Topanga, CA
Whittier,CA
Hillsborough County, FL
Tampa, FL
Valrico, FL
Lutz, FL
Pasco County, FL
Arlington County, VA
Leesburg, VA
Falls Church, VA
Massapequa, NY
Mineola, NY
Nassau, NY

Irvington, NY
Rockland County, NY
Chester County PA
Valley Forge, PA
Phoenixville, PA
Downingtown, PA
Wilmington, Delaware
Silver Spring MD
Rowlett, TX
Wylie, TX
Keller, TX
Grapevine, TX
Irving, TX
Allen, TX
Southlake,TX

Package pricing:

Up to 5 Mbps/2 Mbps*	Waived	FREE	$39.95/mo
Up to 15 Mbps/2 Mbps*	Waived	FREE	$49.95/mo
Up to 30 Mbps/5 Mbps*	Waived	FREE	$199.95/mo

Pirelli Optical Cable, (yes, the same guys who make high performance tires) seem to be providing the cable here. Kimmy was cool enough to get a Verizon guy to give her a piece of fiber to bring home. From this piece and the measurement (~14.6mm) of the cable that was temporarily hanging out side in our front yard I was able to determine that its probably an FusionLink Armored cable.

Installations are being reported as using AFC’s FiberDirect system. More reading can be found here… Fiber Direct Overview PDF and here… Fiber Direct Brochure PDF

Fiber

Fiber lit by laser pointer

Stalking verizon guys

Cable

And if you just can’t get enough, here are plenty more pictures of verizon guys.