Vallery.net » Random Thoughts

Why I don’t recycle paper

jvallery — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:14:18 +0000

I had a run in with a co-worker today who was upset that I hadn’t placed a couple sheets of paper in the recycling bin instead opting for the trash. I do this on purpose and I thought it would make an interesting blog post to explain why. The primary goal of recycling is to [...]

TapLynx is compatible with iPad

jvallery — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:04:35 +0000

I’m super excited about the new iPad from Apple. This is exactly the device I’ve been looking for to simplify all the various gadgets I carry with me on a daily basis. For daily use with one device I can replace my kindle and my laptop. I certainly don’t expect it to fully replace my [...]

Compare Apple TV shows in standard and high definition

jvallery — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:17:30 +0000

With all the news today from Apple, I think one of the most overlooked announcements was that TV shows are available now in HD. HD is sort of a vague term though and just really means higher resolution (more pixels) than a standard NTSC broadcast. They failed to tell us what resolution the new TV [...]

Updated Apple TV supports 1080p resolution

jvallery — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:06:53 +0000

I just upgraded my Apple TV with the new “Take Two” update. Everything works as promised, and I noticed one extra goodie in the video settings dialog. The Apple TV now natively supports 1080p video output! Attached photographic proof!

Automatically backup your Mac to Amazon S3

jvallery — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:46:16 +0000

With the new version of OS X (Leopard) Apple has included some great functionality in Time Machine. Your Mac will automatically backup to an external drive every hour. It includes the ability to recover deleted files in a timeline. The one downside to the Time Machine approach is that the data isn’t remotely stored. A [...]

Extracting emails from Gmail and Google Apps for Domains

jvallery — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:09:52 +0000

First off, I’ll get the link out of the way. If you go to http://vallery.net/gmail/ you can see this application in action. Now a little bit more about it. I discovered that over the years I haven’t exactly been great about maintaining my addressbook. I’ve lost touch of many of acquaintances that I have had [...]

The death of the local newspaper?

jvallery — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:42:55 +0000

The death of the local newspaper? I consider myself fairly well informed. I read a number of different publications to stay up to date with current events, the latest technology, or even just a bit of celebrity gossip. I’m a busy guy, I have a lot going on and I don’t have a bunch of [...]

AACS processing key, and the C&D letter to come

jvallery — Tue, 01 May 2007 07:58:08 +0000

I’m doing my part in adding yet another place where you can find the AACS HD-DVD processing key. I’m a firm believer in fair use, and the DRM scheme implemented by AACS clearly limits my abilities to use content that was legally purchased. I buy all my music on iTunes, I buy all my movies [...]

Outsourcing to India, the other perspective.

jvallery — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:51:18 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to visit Delhi on a business trip for a couple of weeks. It was an eye opening experience for me to say the least. It is shocking to see just how different the two cultures are. The extreme poverty next to the extreme wealth. It’s inspiring to see the opportunities [...]

Setting up an automated workflow to convert files for Apple TV on OS X

jvallery — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:45:13 +0000

With the arrival of my Apple TV yesterday I needed a solution to get my Xvix/WMV/Divx files converted and imported into iTunes so that I can watch them. I already have Quicktime Pro, which with the recent release added the ability to “Export to Apple TV”. Since I have a lot of files, and no [...]