networking – Page 8 – Graves On SOHO Technology

Live From Las Vegas! We’re Now Hosted At Lightning Base In Las Vegas!

This is the fourth installment in the long-running tale (parts one, two & three) of my search for the most appropriate host for this site.

The very fact that you’re reading this means that the site is now live on a server operated by Lightning Base. In the past I’ve used a shared host and couple of different VPS providers. In point of fact the site was at UnmeteredVPS.net for over two years.

I have nothing but nice things to say about UnmeteredVPS.net. That service is excellent, but it wasn’t exactly a perfect fit. It was an unmanaged VPS, which meant that I was responsible for everything.

Every few weeks I would need to update some aspect of the OS or supporting software. Some updates were trivial. Some, like major Apache or MySQL updates, were a bit scary. Despite five years running this site I’m no Linux guru.

Musing About Logitech’s Squeezebox, Squeezebox For Android, Pandora & Tivo

November 13, 2012
Michael Graves
Audio, networking

Squeezebox-TivoHD-SB-For-Android Around the house and office we use Logitech’s recently defunct Squeezebox music players. We have several of these, a mix of the Squeezebox 3 and Squeezebox Touch models.

There’s an Android app that provides remote control of these little players. I’ve had it loaded for as long as I’ve had an Android phone. However, it’s never worked for me. At least it didn’t until the past weekend.

Being something of a traditionalist I have historically fed the Squeezebox herd from a small media server or NAS on my network. Only occasionally would I point them to online sources like Radio Paradise, KPFT or KUHF.

This past weekend I started to play with Pandora. The Squeezeboxes can access a Pandora account and thereby stream decent quality music from an online source. Pandora’s paid service provides 192 kbps streams without advertising. That makes the $36/yr paid service seem quite attractive.

Millions of people already use Pandora. I accept that I’m late to that party.

IT Expo West 2012 In Austin, TX

June 29, 2012
Michael Graves
networking

TMC’s IT Expo West 2012 in Austin TX is October 2-5th this year. I had a quite a good time at IT Expo West 2011. I’m leaning towards attending again but as yet not committed. TMC is offering a discounted…

Sonus Networks On Session Border Controllers

OK, I’ll admit that this is a little beyond the scope of concern for a SOHO dweller. However, if you are inclined to learn more about the gear that makes VoIP service providers tick you might want to take advantage…

En Route To Astricon 2011

October 20, 2011
Michael Graves
Asterisk, networking

After much consideration I’ve found that I am able to attend Astricon 20011. I’m already committed to a series of meeting in Burbank, CA Monday-Wednesday, so I’ll be making a stop Boulder on the way home. I plan on arriving…

Telecom Factoid: This was state-of-the-art when the standard for “Toll Quality” telephony was defined

September 12, 2011
Michael Graves
networking, VoIP

Yes, sir. That little beauty to the right was the current state-of-the-art in 1937. That's when what we call "toll quality" calling was supposedly set down as a standard. In fact, I find it hard to believe that the entire…