I'm sure ComiXology is run by nice people. I'm sure they set out to run a good service, but in order to have any comics to offer they had to implement a terrible, patronizing DRM system. Maybe someday they'll be able offer DRM free downloads, and when they do I'll probably be one of their biggest customers. As they currently exist, I can't even use them.
Here's the deal:
Right now I have no home internet to speak of. That's just my situation for the next month or two. Nothing but an incredibly slow and spotty cellular connection. If I want to consume some media obtained over the internet, I have to download it at work, copy it to a thumb drive, copy it over to my home computer and then play it there. I can do that with purchased music downloads. I can do that with purchased ebooks. I can do that with some (generally indie) movies and video series. However, I can't do that with comics on Comixology (and to be fair, many digital comic stores are the same way).
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Housekeeping!
Okay, I've got a few posts I've been meaning to write, but my internet connection is crappy and other stuff keeps distracting me, and I'm almost at the point where many of these posts are obsolete. So here's my February in review:
After some playing around with ownCloud, I had to say, "It's not me, it's you." A lot of people online are having issues with it, and after doing some research, seeing for instance how owncloud doesn't scale well and it's syncing isn't very efficient, I decided to give up on it. I'm thinking about giving Seafile a go one of these days.
I ditched the Chromebook, mostly because seeing the new HP Chromebook which charges via microUSB made me resent carrying a power brick everywhere. Unfortunately the HP one also has an ARM processor, which limits your choice of apps if you want to run Linux on it. Also it doesn't have an SD card slot, so they can fuck right off. But looking around it got me on the trail of the Asus T100, which doesn't seem Linux friendly, but runs Windows 8 and lasts at least 9 hours on a charge. I've been curious to give Win8 a try.
So yes, I bought the Asus T100, and Windows 8 is kind of shit, but since I can turn off all the touch stuff and easily pretend like it's Windows 7 it's not that big of a deal (Classic Shell FTW!). I have to say, I really like the device itself. Good build, good feel, good battery life. I also like that I can detach the screen and read comics on it as a tablet. The touchpad is kind of unresponsive to taps, but the one on my Chromebook had bigger issues. After my history with Asus netbooks I'm glad to be using an Asus device as a primary work machine again. And one that finally has decent battery life. My biggest two complaints are that the screen doesn't always get bright enough for my tastes, and the screen doesn't tilt back quite enough. The viewing angles are fine, the screen is still readable, it's just a pet peeve to not have it pointing directly at me.
Also, the T100 seems to be one of the few "Transformer" style convertibles that doesn't have a battery in it's dock. I suspect this is because it's also the first such device to be powered from a microUSB cord. It takes at least four hours to fully charge this device when in use, so perhaps it couldn't charge both batteries at once via microUSB (though it really doesn't need to, it could charge the tablet then spill over to the dock). Either way, 9 hours minimum battery life is nothing to sneer at, and I'm happy to be sitting at my window, plugged in without having to drag my charger with me. I can just use the charger I've left over here for my phone (Samsung 2 amp cables and chargers work great with the T100, though not every charger does. The T100 a bit picky, but the good ones are well documented in certain forums).
Also, just as I type this it occurs to me how funny it is that I talk all kinds of crap on Blogger, but here I am still using it (it's really pretty decent), yet my Chromebook, which I have been largely positive about, gets ditched within 24 hours of learning the T100 exists.
Okay, well I think that's it for the housekeeping now, yeah? Everyone up to date? Great.
-David
After some playing around with ownCloud, I had to say, "It's not me, it's you." A lot of people online are having issues with it, and after doing some research, seeing for instance how owncloud doesn't scale well and it's syncing isn't very efficient, I decided to give up on it. I'm thinking about giving Seafile a go one of these days.
I ditched the Chromebook, mostly because seeing the new HP Chromebook which charges via microUSB made me resent carrying a power brick everywhere. Unfortunately the HP one also has an ARM processor, which limits your choice of apps if you want to run Linux on it. Also it doesn't have an SD card slot, so they can fuck right off. But looking around it got me on the trail of the Asus T100, which doesn't seem Linux friendly, but runs Windows 8 and lasts at least 9 hours on a charge. I've been curious to give Win8 a try.
So yes, I bought the Asus T100, and Windows 8 is kind of shit, but since I can turn off all the touch stuff and easily pretend like it's Windows 7 it's not that big of a deal (Classic Shell FTW!). I have to say, I really like the device itself. Good build, good feel, good battery life. I also like that I can detach the screen and read comics on it as a tablet. The touchpad is kind of unresponsive to taps, but the one on my Chromebook had bigger issues. After my history with Asus netbooks I'm glad to be using an Asus device as a primary work machine again. And one that finally has decent battery life. My biggest two complaints are that the screen doesn't always get bright enough for my tastes, and the screen doesn't tilt back quite enough. The viewing angles are fine, the screen is still readable, it's just a pet peeve to not have it pointing directly at me.
Also, the T100 seems to be one of the few "Transformer" style convertibles that doesn't have a battery in it's dock. I suspect this is because it's also the first such device to be powered from a microUSB cord. It takes at least four hours to fully charge this device when in use, so perhaps it couldn't charge both batteries at once via microUSB (though it really doesn't need to, it could charge the tablet then spill over to the dock). Either way, 9 hours minimum battery life is nothing to sneer at, and I'm happy to be sitting at my window, plugged in without having to drag my charger with me. I can just use the charger I've left over here for my phone (Samsung 2 amp cables and chargers work great with the T100, though not every charger does. The T100 a bit picky, but the good ones are well documented in certain forums).
Also, just as I type this it occurs to me how funny it is that I talk all kinds of crap on Blogger, but here I am still using it (it's really pretty decent), yet my Chromebook, which I have been largely positive about, gets ditched within 24 hours of learning the T100 exists.
Okay, well I think that's it for the housekeeping now, yeah? Everyone up to date? Great.
-David
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