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On several occasions I have blogged about Zimbra. In June I decided to switch back to Google apps. For about a month or so I had been playing with both Zimbra and Google apps. What's funny is I was relatively happy with Zimbra, but when I was playing with android phones I started looking again at Google apps. It seems like nowadays Google apps is universally accessible on multiple operating systems and phone platforms. Zimbra does use Microsoft's exchange sync but do not as universally compatible as Google apps. The biggest drawback was the limitations on android phones. Even though I ended up not keeping an android phone I actually like the flexibility that Google apps gave me. When I first started using Zimbra I actually A copy of mail both on my Gmail and on my Zimbra account. Recently I have been less concerned about downtime with anyone provider, so that redundancy seemed like overkill.

What I ended up doing was I stopped using Zimbra and started using the free Google apps. Once I got the IOS 4.0 upgrade for my iPhone however I was compelled to purchase the paid version. There was a quirk with each change sync settings and IOS 4.0 that was fixed with the premium version. I tried the 15 day free account and liked it. I ended up canceling my Zimbra account and and now I am only using Google apps. Feature wise I can't complain about Zimbra. Overall the two products were similar. I do however like the UI of Google apps. Recent integration of Google voice to my Google apps for domains also affirms my choice was the right one for me at the time. The

So far I've been happy with my choice for the past few months. I know every year or two I reassess the situation. I did that about two years ago when I switched from Google Apps to Zimbra, any year or so before that when I moved on to Google apps from another mail provider. Let's hope I am satisfied with what I have now for a few years. Of course if Google doesn't continue to innovate I'm open to other options.

RIP Partsearch

Today seems like the last day of Partsearch Technologies. It looks like the staff has been let go and the company is going out of business.  It is still kind of odd that I found myself wanting to write about it. After all I haven't worked there since February 2007. In any event I have several friends that still worked there up until the end, and after spending so many years working there I feel like a wanted to write something.

For the past several weeks I've heard about problems they been having. Of course it seemed like (to me) there've been problems for years. In the end I have mixed feelings about this day. Partsearch was a place I loved to work at for many years, but toward the end for me it was a place I dreaded to work. At the time my decision to leave was both sudden, and a long time coming. What I mean by that is, by the time I was ready to leave I realized I should've left the year before. I talk about that now because it seems like the decisions that were being made then probably had an impact on the company's ultimate demise.

In recent years I have had many negative things to say about working there. In reality as I said I had several years where I loved working there. I met many friends that I still keep in touch with today. I got to work side by side with one of my best friends for 2 years. I went from being just a systems engineer, to manager, then to a director. Today I can't help thinking about all the fun times I had, but also about the frustration that led me to leave.

I talk about this now because in the end it seems like the company doomed due to its virtual reliance on one client. This wasn't news. This was actually in fact a problem since the day the company was founded. Over time from what I've heard their reliance on Best Buy decreased, however at the end the vast majority of business was still from them. The detail that I have are fuzzy about the last days, but I recall talking to other managers years ago, and discussing the fact that in the end the business model just did not work. That and the companies reliance on one customer was worrisome from the get go. I'm not a finance guy, all my information is secondhand and anecdotal, but to me this seemed obvious. Let's put it in an other way. If it was a great business model, Partsearch would not have relied on Best Buy for such a large percentage of revenue 10 years into the company's history.

I can recall spending weeks and months preparing to build websites for customers that were to be the next big thing for Partsearch. The problem was the next big thing never came. It was always a bit demoralizing to spend all this time and money and effort on a website and never generated more than $5-$10,000 a month in revenue. This happened, more times than I can remember. At one point we had to have been managing 15 to 25 websites with 2 to 3 generating 90% or more of the money. One of those sites with the company's own Partstore site. And from what I heard Partstore wouldn't have gotten much focus if it wasn't for Dan convincing upper management it could make money. Don't get me wrong, the actual building and constructing the sites and infrastructure was challenging. That's what I did. That is why I liked working there for so long. The frustrating part was to do it knowing that historically it wouldn't make any difference.

I guess in the end my thoughts about working there a very bipolar. On one hand I got to work with some good friends. I gained new friends. I grew as an engineer and manager. I learned a lot more about technology than any other place I've ever worked. Gus for one still motivates me today even though I haven't worked for him in over five years. All that positive thoughts get clouded when I think about the frustration of having to deal with Glenn and other upper management. In my mind the lack of understanding some aspects of technology, and being delusional in the fact that they thought they could build software better than they could just buy off the shelf that eventually led me to leave. I know you can argue anything I'm saying right now. However think about this, as far as I can remember the website infrastructure was rebuilt, or attempted to be rebuilt no less than four times in 10 years. In all those attempts (again as far as I am aware) it never worked just right. Today that still baffles me. In the end it was a e-commerce site, with the search engine backend, and fulfillment system. That's nothing groundbreaking, yet there was so many problems with it.

What I find kind of funny is that I knew several people that worked there up until the end. Most of them are actually happy the companies out of business and they're forced to look for something else.

When I was younger and jaded right after I left Partsearch I look forward to this day. Then it was almost like when it happened it would be justification. Now when the day is here, it is just sad. For everyone that I still know I was working there I wish them good luck finding a job. For those friends who had already moved on like myself, I say take a moment to think of the good times we all had. Because now that it is all over, all we have are the memories. When you count up the time that I was happy there outweighed the time I was unhappy!

Partsearch

Plex Media Center 9

Earlier this month Plex came out with a new version. I had been really liking version 8 since I started using my Mac mini as a media center back in late June. I was eager to download the new version when it came out. Initially I was not very pleased. I had significant issues with my media library upgrading. Well, part of the problem was it didn't upgrade. I had to start over and lost all my customizations. The new version also had issues downloading TV metadata initially. Thankfully the download issues were resolved and I am actually quite pleased now how Plex 9 is turning out.

I also purchased the IOS media streaming app for my iPhone and iPad. That is slightly slow, but it is very cool to be able to stream everything to my portable devices.

I'm still playing around with my set up, but I hope to have everything tweaked the way I like it very soon.

Mac, Media Center, Plex

Virgin Mobile Mifi

You may remember that back in December I had purchased a Verizon MiFi. Other than the cost I was actually very pleased with it. I never really used it that much. It was a really nice to have and did come in handy, but I didn't NEED it. I was pleased and surprised to see virgin mobile announce mobile hotspot of their own with the pay-as-you-go price plan. The $20 a month for 200 meg plan was perfect for my occasional need for hotspot. Before my trip to Syracuse for the Fourth of July I ran out to Best Buy and got one. I wanted to try it out head-to-head with my Verizon one and see how the performance was. The reality was the Verizon hotspot was faster. It is very noticeably faster when I ran a benchmark. Of course for the price that speed difference wasn't really that much when you take into account the vast difference in cost. Well at least that was my opinion.

While I was away I bought 3G iPad. That made my needs for mobile hot spot decrease even more. The fate of my Verizon MiFi was field. Even though I bought the Virgin one in early July I didn't get rid of Verizon one until late August. Most of the month of July was playing around with both of them to be really sure that I wanted to get rid of the rising one. Once I was sure I wanted to get rid of it, I needed to wait until the billing cycle ended.

What I like best about the virgin hotspot is its flexibility. I don't actually need to keep paying for service every month. I can purchase service for month, and when that expires I can purchase service again when I need it. That means I can go up to a year between actually paying for month of service. That suits me since I don't always need a mobile Wi-Fi since I have my iPad 3G, but I have the option when I need it.

3G, iPad, MiFi, Verizon ireless, Virgin Mobile, WiFi

Plex Media Center

Mac, Media Center, Plex, Boxee

iPad 3G

When the iPad was announced I decided to stick with a MiFi and go with the Wi-Fi version. I already had a 3G hotspot (my MiFi with Verizon) and the Wi-Fi version was coming out much sooner than the 3G version. In practice using the MiFi wasn't that seamless. It was okay, and I was getting decent speed, but there were times when it didn't work or was just slow to work.

Because of the limitations I decided that maybe I could use the 3G version after all. I have a Wi-Fi version so I was in no rush however I started checking out the Apple stores in New York City to see if they have them in stock. For most of June they didn't. While I was in Syracuse I stumbled upon an Apple Store in the mall. I figured it didn't hurt to ask if they had a 3G version in stock, so I did. As it turned out they had exactly what I was looking for, the 64 gig 3G iPad. Since they have them in stock I figured what the heck. I went and bought one. I assumed, accurately that I could sell the Wi-Fi version for nearly as much as I paid for it. When I got back from Syracuse I posted it on eBay. I don't know the exact amount but I don't think I lost $50 on the transaction.

Besides being 3G there really isn't any major difference between Wi-Fi version. The problem I was trying to solve, a.k.a. easy turning on 3G when there is no Wi-Fi was fixed. Now all I have to do is wait for the new version of the OS with multitasking and all will be right with the world.

Mac, iPad, WiFi, 3G, Tablet

The New Mac Mini

I ordered one of the new Mac Mini's the other day.  It should arrive on Wednesday.  It is taking so long since I wanted 4gig's of RAM so it was a special order.  I got the stock HDD and Processor since I don't think I needed more than what it came with.  Now I will agree I have a few computers so why would I want another one?  Good question.  No real good answer.  I don't "need" anything.  However with this new Mini I can use HDMI naitivly so my hopes for a media center machine are once again alive.  I don't know if this Mac will have the same HDMI issues as my other ones have with the adapters to HDMI, or if the native cable will "just work".  If this doesn't work I am sure it is my TV that is the problem.  Well I am already pretty sure it is my TV that is messed up but we will see Wednesday.

If the media center doesn't work out I mainly bought this new one because my 20" iMac is slowly going.  Not sure why since it is only 2 years old but I don't have Apple Care and the screen has lighter colored vertical bars here and there (in regular intervals) that make me think it is the back-lights.  That was an issue for a while but now I am not even able to put most DVD's into the drive.  It starts making really bad sounds and wont spit them out.  I know I use the iMac as a server mainly to host up my iTunes video library but I do want it to work.  If the DVD drive goes I may end up just moving it to my bedroom to use as a TV or streaming host for videos that I wanted to do a while back and use the new Mini to host my iTunes collection.  In the end the Mini will be used as some sort of media center.  If it plugs into my TV or an extra monitor on my desk is really all that is up in the air.

A New Biking Location

Ever since I moved I haven't biked as much as I would have liked.  Nothing beat going to central park and biking the loop or part of the loop.  The first summer I moved to LIC I went out once or twice and really couldn't find any place I liked biking too.  Last summer I went biking in Central Park once but otherwise didn't do much in the way of biking due to lots of work deadlines.

This summer I want to get out and do more biking and exploring.  Today I rented a bike right by the Intrepid (I didn't want to deal with traveling on the subway with my own) and biked on along the west side highway.  There is a great bike path all along the water.  Went from 43st down to the World Financial Center and back.  For my first outing of the year that was enough for me and my bike partner.

We opted for the by the water since central park is so hilly.  I am glad we did.  It was a great flat ride.  Only problem was a bunch of wind on the way back that was against us.  Overall a great afternoon out.

I need to find someplace in Queens I can really get to easily to bike around...

Drinks With Friends Yesterday

Last nigth I went out and meet up with some friends after work.  It has been a while since I saw one of them, and a week since I saw another.  A third went out to the beach for the weekend early so she bailed.  I was impressed with how much alcohol I actually drank.  I think I had a few mixed drinks and at least 3 shots.  Not my normal night out, but I had a blast.  We went to our new hang out Ping and Whistle.  Well sorta new hang out.  We have only been there twice.  All in all a great evening.