Archive for July 2, 2014

Why I Now Use Level 3’s DNS Service

Posted in Tips with tags on July 2, 2014 by itnerd

I as a rule have never used an ISP’s DNS servers. Regardless of whom the ISP is, they can be slow. Or worse they could do some sort of redirection so that if you mis-type a URL, you get redirected to a page that looks like Google’s search results page with suggested sites that it thinks you wanted to go to along with a healthy dose of ads that no doubt make the ISP money. Now in the past, I’ve recommended OpenDNS. But now I’ve backed away from that recommendation for the simple reason that they do a version of the same thing for the same reason. Google has its own DNS service as well. But I am becoming less of a fan of handing over my Internet experience to a company that claims to “do no evil” but has been caught doing the exact opposite.

Thus I decided switch to the Level 3 public DNS servers. Level3 Communications is the company that provides most of the ISPs in the US their access to the Internet backbone. So, by using their public DNS servers, you will automatically route to the nearest DNS server operated by them and your access will be very fast.

Here are the address that you’ll need to enter into your router or onto your computer:

Primary DNS: 209.244.0.3

Secondary DNS: 209.244.0.4

Now if you need help changing the settings on your router or computer, try this link or drop me a note and I’ll see what I can do to help.

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The Recovery Continues…..

Posted in Commentary with tags , on July 2, 2014 by itnerd

So far, my recovery from this little mishap with my MacBook Pro is going well. Today I noticed I was without iWeb, iDVD, and iMovie HD. Now, Apple doesn’t officially support any of these apps anymore, but they matter to me for the following reasons:

  • iWeb: It was a very handy web site editor that works quite well. I used it to create my corporate website.
  • iDVD: It was great for creating DVDs from iMovie projects or iPhoto projects. It’s no longer included with new Macs as Apple feels that nobody makes DVDs anymore. They of course are wrong about that.
  • iMovie HD: As I’ve documented previously, the current versions of iMovie don’t play nice with DV camcorders. Plus as a video editing app, the latest versions of iMovie quite frankly suck. Therefore I am going to hang onto iMovie HD until it stops working on my Mac or Apple gets a clue about how video editing software should works.

So the question is what to do about these missing items. Now I could have gone to my trusty backup to get them. But given this is a fresh install of OS X Mavericks, I wanted to make sure I didn’t transfer over any issues, so I did this:

  • iWeb: I first had to download the last version of iWeb from Apple’s site. If you need it you can find it here. Then I had to copy from my backup the “Sites” folder which contains all the info for my website. Then I had to do some slight of hand to make it work. iWeb stores your data in a domain file located in the following location: Home Folder/Library/Application Support/iWeb.
    I had to go to this location, copy this file and paste it to the same location on my computer. Hint to Apple: You should put every file that relates to a users data in a place where it can be easily found. This does not qualify as being easy to find.
  • iDVD: This one was easy. I simply had to download the last version of iDVD from Apple’s site which if you need it can be found here. I had no data that I had to rescue so I just had to install it and make sure it worked.
  • iMovie HD: This was the hardest one as Apple doesn’t have this on their site anymore. So I went a route that I absolutely, positively do not recommend to anyone but yours truly. I went to this blog who is likely hosting a copy of iMovie HD illegally and downloaded it. He had some instructions in terms of installing it which I followed and so far it seems to be fine.

I’ll keep using it and I think I’ll find little things that I need to address, but it seems to be all good so far.

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Google Scoops Up Songza

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 2, 2014 by itnerd

In what is likely a defensive move, Google yesterday announced that they scooped up streaming music service Songza. Some reports have suggested Google paid around $15 million for the service which if it is true is pocket change for Google. It’s a defensive move because Apple grabbed Beats Music when they bought Beats a few weeks ago. It’s similar to Songza as the two services focus on human curation, which is becoming a must-have feature in the streaming music arena. In other words, actual humans handpick albums and playlists based on a user’s personal tastes. It’s clear that Google didn’t want to get left behind.

The music streaming business is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

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