Maggie McFee - Whinging on the Internet since 1994 » Represent

Kickstarter Projects – Sticky Post

admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 22:22:26 +0000

Kickstarter projects I’m supporting and that I hope you will too. =)

Happy Robonukkah!

maggie — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:52:37 +0000

TWE and Maddie wish you a very happy Robonukkah.

The Setup aka UsesThis.com

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 05:05:48 +0000

Good heavens. Through some sort of temporarl anomaly or hole in spacetime, I’ve wound up on The Setup (usesthis.com).

Read it here, if you insist: http://maggie.mcfee.usesthis.com/

In unrelated news, I just posted a candid ‘behind the scenes’ video of James “The Amazing” Randi from a shoot at NECSS 2010 we just did: http://aggravatedmedia.com.

Disk Test Results Round 2

maggie — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:04:07 +0000

I’ve finished the tests I’d planned and the results are posted in the PDF linked here.
(I’ve updated this since yesterday into one document with added notes, so grab the latest copy.)

In the end, Seagate trounces the competition on performance. However, the second place Samsung disk is still a strong contender, especially where price is an issue. Quite frankly, these are the only two 1TB disks I’ll be recommending to anyone for any sort of capture or editing. Well… actually, I’ll be recommending 4 disks: the two winning models here and their cheaper non-enterprise versions. You’ll have to decide for yourself which best fits your needs and pocketbook.

For us, the 4 Seagates will go into a rack unit and be put into daily use offloading backups.
The 4 Samsungs will go in a new Mac Pro for edit/capture.

Disk Test Results (final)

I’m glad I could share this info and I hope someone finds it useful.
Maggie

Disk Test Results Round 1

maggie — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:37:52 +0000

And the winner is… well, that depends on what you’re looking for in a 1TB drive. The clear, overall winner was the Seagate ST31000340NS. It won in overall speed and in sheer ‘clockwork-like’ consistency. But hot on its heels was the Samsung Spinpoint F1 RAID. Not only is this drive cheaper and still ‘enterprise grade’, it also has a consumer-level sibling with nearly identical specs for around $170! That spells bargain, to me.

Have a look at the numbers yourself here: DiskTestResults.pdf
(For more info on what and why, see this post)

I should give special props to the Western Digital ‘Green Power’ drive. It’s not going to win any speed contests, but this drive does draw significantly less power _and_ it runs cooler than the average drive. I tested one in a NAS full of Seagates and the WD drive consistently ran 10 degrees cooler! Take that, Al Gore!

And stay tuned for more shootout between the Seagate and Samsung next week. I’ll be testing a 4 drive conifguration in both internal bays of the Mac Pro as well as using e-SATA via a RocketRaid 2314 controller. And… maybe more if I’m not knackered!

For now… enjoy the weekend, peeps!

UPDATE: For those interested in pricing on the drives as mentioned, here are links from my “go to” drive suppliers for both the enterprise and consumer models of the top two:

Seagate ST31000340NS (~ $270)
Seagate ST31000340AS (~ $215)
Samsung HE103UJ (~ $238)
Samsung HD103UJ (~ $168)

Tim Russert, the Internet loved you

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:23:51 +0000

Tim Russert has died. But all around the Internet I’m seeing loving, sad and poignant tributes to him. So to his family and friends who are mourning him today, please know that the Internet mourns with you. We’ve lost a great champion of fair reporting and commentary.

The Internet and America will miss you, Tim Russert. We truly will. Thank you for everything.

In Honor of Pants

maggie — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:12:42 +0000

In honor of the special pants of that inimitable raconteur and beloved pundit, my friend/acquaintance/culinary cruise director/whatever-you-prefer Andy Ihnatko,
I present a re-telling of Jonathan Coulton’s ‘Mr. Fancy Pants’. *ahem*

Chances are your pants are not as tactical as those
Ordered from the Internet by Andy Ihnatko
They’re functional but generously fitted in the groin
You can roll them up or down
Got zippers by the pound
He’s wearing Internet pants

You look in every catalog you shop at every store
but never find the perfect pair of pants you’re looking for
So you ask the Internet to recommend the best
The best in terms of fit
Can hold a ton of shit
You’re looking for Internet Pants

Sing a little praise for Andy’s Internet Pants
They’re tactical
And practical
With pockets deep
And wide

He makes the big announcement that he’s found the perfect pair
From all the multitudes of pants that he could choose to wear
If you’re the lucky sod who recommended them to him
You deserve a big award or
A place on IhnatCorp’s board
‘Cause Andy loves his Internet Pants

Sing a little praise for Andy’s Internet Pants
They transport DVDs.
‘Round ten with ease
With pockets so deep
And wide…

Mac Camp Boston = unconference

maggie — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:59:19 +0000

Mac Camp Boston (for which no camping is involved) is being held May 10th.
It will be organized, or is that un-organized, as an unconference in, I believe, the BarCamp style.

Go. Sign up already!
http://maccampboston.com

They’ll be having a meet and greet the night before at BetaHouse.

Playing with WP media…

maggie — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:38:06 +0000

WordPress 2.5 includes new media tools so that you can add images, videos or music to a post. I thought I’d give it a go here and see how it works. So, here’s a themed post with a mix I did a while back in Soundtrack Pro featuring a Daft Punk sample _and_ a drawing I did of Bangalter from Daft Punk for a thing called the Baby Grind (it’s like the Daily Grind, but more relaxed).
If you like the pic enough, you can buy it on t-shirt here.

The song – click to play in browser or right-click to download: Half Daft (mp3)