I entered Google’s Glass Explorer program knowing full well the cost, and the opportunity. I put my two cents in as to how I would use Glass: while coding to monitor console logs. I imagined having a tiny SSH screen I could read using tail -f /error_log while saving and uploading PHP code to my remote development servers.

Little did I know I would actually be one of the few chosen. I am more active on Google+ than I am on Twitter so you could imagine my surprise during my daily (sometimes hourly) rounds of social media check ins when I noticed my entry was chosen.

I am freaking ecstatic. I will be one of the first to see them, use them, own them and most importantly I will be one of the first to start developing for them and using them to their fullest.

Now is the perfect time to start coding for Glass Apps and get innovative. It’s a time to find creative ways to use this new technology..which in my opinion is one of a few components toward shaping the future of tech. It’s the mobile phone app store all over again, except this time we are entering Star Trek mode.

This kind of tech is inspirational, it’s the thing I dreamed of as a kid. How many of you wanted to be Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation? He was my favorite character. The Visor made him. This is a visor for everyone.

As lame as it sounds, it is a step forward toward making our Sci-fi dreams come true. Thanks Google! Everything is getting smaller, faster, easier to use, now we can start to really wear and utilize our tech. The next step is implants and cybernetic augmentation / limb replacement…but thats for a different time and a different beta.  I am still waiting for the day I can power my devices with my blood / bloodstream and burn some unneeded calories while sitting around.

The difficult thing about getting tech like Glass adopted is marketing and economy. It has to be affordable, and it has to be sexy. Google has spared no expense hyping this product up and promising to make the end product affordable. They have put tons of effort into making Glass something as unobtrusive as possible for it’s size, capability and intended use. It actually looks cool (to us geeks at least ). I can see everyone wearing a pair.

And if everyone is wearing a pair, just like mobile software development, everyone can be running the software we develop at Esotech. My mind is reeling with ideas and excitement.

In the coming months I will be blogging both here and on the Esotech Blog about my experience getting, using and developing for Google Glass. I have never been so excited about a product, or about the work I am going to be able to do because of / with it. Google has yet to announce the details as to when and how we are to pick up our Glass Explorer edition devices. Once I get any details I will surely post them. I will try to keep personal experiences and opinions on my blog while writing professional and development related ones on Esotech’s Blog.

Stay tuned! Thanks for reading!

Sidenote…I hope they don’t make us sign some kind of NDA while we have them, that would probably kill the whole Blogging about it part . Will respect it though if they do enforce that.  *crossing fingers*. Oh and yes, I am damn surely hoping that Ingress will be ported to this platform…imagine the fun…no I don’t have any Ingress invites.

Updated: 5/10/2013

My company Esotech and I have moved to copy.com‘s @copyapp. Click this link to get 5 GB free on top of the base 5 GB (10GB) you get when signing up. Their sharing features are excellent, the speed of the app is excellent, it syncs fast. It basically has every feature Dropbox has, a better web menu, more sharing features that are on par with Google Drive, and a non pooled storage for sharing folders and files with clients, employees and friends. It lets you reduce the bandwidth usage (unlike Google Drive), and is cross platform compatible (Linux, Mac, Windows, Android, iOS).

Company’s are an integral feature of Copy as well. I can create a company, then manage who is connected to it. After having a nice conversation with a rep from Barracuda, right now Company Storage space is not calculated, eventually we will have to buy storage specifically for the company account, which I share with all employees and even choose administrators. This will allow me to attach as many users I want to the Company account without using anyone’s personal quota. Did I mention that company storage starts at $399.00 for 100GB with unlimited users? This is around $34.00 a month. DropBox may give you unlimited storage for teams, but at 5 users max, and more money per user (around $155.00+ per year per user over 5, $12.00 / month per user), Copy seems like a better choice for small businesses and startups with smaller data. Better to grow your storage as you need it rather than be limited by how many users are in your company. Most people aren’t going to sync terabytes of data to their desktop anyways. It is so much easier to deal with adding storage than adding and removing users if your company expands or contracts. Copy allows me to pick and choose who gets to see what folder in the company, and most importantly, who can edit or who can just view. EXCELLENT.

Barracuda Networks, I tip my hat to you as you have done an excellent job.

Now for why I am switching from Dropbox / Google Drive to Copy…Dropbox is simple…it does not allow you to share a folder inside an already shared folder. That was the deal breaker for me. The sharing features were rudimentary. I also hate having everyone else that shares folders with me automatically put in my root Dropbox directory. Copy allows me to specify where shared with me folders go. Love it. Oh, did I mention if you share Dropbox folders it eats up space on both accounts that are sharing? Not on Copy.  *Update: After reviewing this issue with a Barracuda rep, I was given mixed messages. Although the twitter reps say that they won’t make it eat into your quota, this is a half truth. If you try to SYNC the file or folder to your computer, it will use your storage as it becomes part of your sync pool. The easy solution is to only sync your own files, and use the web interface to download and manage files given to you by others.

On to Google Drive, it blew up….again. I have had so many problems with Drive. I love Google, I really do, but this is the first time I have been disappointing by one of their products. (Besides them deciding to Axe Google Reader).

One time my partner decided to drag all of my Google drive documents onto his hard drive…accidentally…i watched him do it too. This took hours to repair, I had to resync and reshare EVERYTHING with everyone, there was no easy fix. I couldn’t just drop the files in there, there was no warning, no undo. Funny thing is, the files existed in trash, but then didn’t. There was no easy way to tell where anything went. The Google docs he dragged out existed but had no method of accessing them without a direct link. Bummer

Then came the syncing issues, and this was the real killer as the above problem was more user related. My laptop has not been able to sync to drive for months “Google Drive unexpectedly quit and needs to close”. Great error message Google. After “searching web folders” for 40 minutes you just crash, awesome. No resolution besides…sync one folder at a time? For 40 GB worth of data? No way. It is supposed to work, not require me to finesse every file into my system.

The dreaded day came, I got a new hard drive and wanted to move Google Drive to it. What happens? Now my main PC blows up, can’t sync. Same issue as the laptop. Apparently if you have too much storage on drive, it explodes and can’t handle itself. I supposed it has to do with a long period of time which it has to collect meta data, and if you have tons of small files, it just freaks out and stops.

So, give Copy a try, get your free 5 GB, and while the offer lasts refer it to others so they can benefit. They are even giving out 1 TB free if you can get them some new talented hires.

Copy has said that there is no limit to the referral storage you can get, so get to it!

Update: 5/10/2013 We have been using Copy in the office for a few months and everything has run smooth. No lost files, no problems syncing, no bandwidth issues. (Lan Sync is great!). Overall we are happy. Although I was dissapointed to hear I would eventually have to purchase Company storage once they get their system further developed, I will gladly pay for a 100 GB Company account. I have already collected over 100 GB of personal storage from their referral promotion. Sign up with this link and get some free space!

My mother is now finally free of the burden of care, but it is replaced with the sadness of loss. This is what many call the price of freedom. Many times in life we find ourselves forced or bound into the care of another. This is a very difficult situation whether it is toward an animal, parent, loved one, child or significant other. As time goes on and patience wears thin, their passing is what is supposed to bring freedom to the individual. But it is never true freedom because the attachment toward the person isn’t lifted even with their passing. They are physically free, and to some extent, intellectually free, but not emotionally.

As human beings we have the tendency to attach ourselves to people, places and even things. We feel it is never going to change. This can cause one of two things, confidence or despair. Confident that the wonderful way of living currently being experienced will always remain, or despair that the despicable conditions currently being lived will never subside. Either way, we will become attached to things within the condition.

True freedom is being able to leave the past where it is. It’s looking at he present, with it being in ones own control, no matter the situation that may arise. You can free yourself at any point, it does not require the passing of any person place or thing. It is a decision, a mindset. Freedom comes with a price only to those willing to remain attached.

When I look around at many businessmen, especially those seen in the media, bottom line seems to be more important than anything else.

A company that grows should reward those who helped it grow and inspire those people to want to stay. There are so many complaints recently regarding the need to “suddenly” provide affordable healthcare to employees for companies with over 50 employees due to Obamacare. If you would have thought of your employees first you would have already done this and it wouldn’t be a problem.

If you had built these benefits it into your business model you may have grown just as fast; you would have had higher employee retention and satisfaction. Better work which leads to better products which leads to happy clients and customers.

Every businessman needs to eat so you should compensate yourself of course, but what happened to the noble entrepreneur that is willing forego extravagant living to provide a comfortable living for his employees?

We need more of this in America, politics can’t fix the economic paradigm that has greed built into our business models.

The purpose of business is success and wealth, but this does not necessarily imply that the success and wealth is all for YOU.

Your business is greater than you which is why it is treated as a person legally. It’s a local organic economic body that is party of a larger global organic economic body. If you poison any part of your body, you’re damn sure it will affect the entire system. Stop feeding your business fast food.

What affects one person effects a business, what affects a business effects the entirety of the economy.

I am currently investigating an issue that deals with Windows 8 Updates. When I run Windows Update, and Reboot, the system hangs at the black screen with the blue logo and white spinning circle. If I turn off the machine, and reboot, it tries to go into Automatic Repair mode, which also hangs.

After much frustration, I tried a Windows Refresh, which also didn’t work, it wouldn’t even try to do it. I tried a System Restore, which rolls back changes, and this did work leaving my updates uninstalled.

I thought this had to do with me enabling Hyper-v at the same time that I had done a Windows update, but apparently that is not the case, though when rolling back changes this also thankfully unset itself. I tried doing just the windows updates, without enabling hyper-v, and am again presented with the loading screen. My next step is to install each update one by one to find the culprit.

The thing is, while it is hanging, the hard drive light stays on solid, and does blink every so often. The blink has no real pattern…so it is doing something, but it just never completes. I am thinking about leaving it on overnight before doing another System Restore.

I will update this blog as I get more info.

10/28/2012 4:42 AM EST Update

It just takes a REALLY Long time and has no status indicator of what the hell it’s doing, even on a Quad Core Machine, with SSD and 24 GB of RAM. Windows booted up…Talk about User Hostile…now to test if Hyper V enabling was the actual culprit.

10/28/2012 5:19 AM EST Update

Going to bed, looks like it may be the Hyper V After all…it is still spinning, doesn’t look like it is doing anything.

10/28/2012 9:17 AM EST Update

Windows Booted! I left it running during my…short…sleep…and apparently it just takes a really really long time to configure Hyper V. So, don’t get discouraged, as long as that circles is still moving, your system should actually be doing something. Rebooting too quickly is probably a bad habit from windows days of yore, where we are used to seeing a crash every other day if it looks like it is doing nothing.

Now to play around with Hyper V, need to get a working copy of Windows 7 and Windows XP running so I can do design work for IE8 and IE9. Wish I could just run the browsers separately…

10/28/2012 10:24 AM EST Update

Although it did boot, it slowed down to a crawl, nothing would open. I restarted…and it hanged again. No way can I deal with an hour+ boot time.

Tried a system restore and this time it didn’t work. I had to go to “Automatically fix Problems” in the DVD, for it to tell me things were so bad that it needed to do a System Restore. When it did the restore it used a different process that was faster, rebooted, and I am in…now to test more rebootings. This time Windows Updates are still installed, but Hyper V is disabled.

10/28/2012 10:57 AM EST Update

Apparently, now my system won’t boot unless I remove all my USB peripherals including mouse.

10/28/2012 12:34 AM EST Update

Still having boot issues. System runs fine if it actually loads. I have found others on the Microsoft Support forums having similar issues, all are reporting it occurs after running windows update. I am uninstalling my windows updates to see if it works. I;d recommend to hold off on running those windows updates for now. Oh, and turn off automatic updates.

Sometimes Windows will boot, sometimes it wont, it seems to be tied to USB devices, and USB Devices being connected to the PC. Must be something that came with the update.

10/28/2012 10:24 PM EST Update

I managed to boot Windows and uninstalled the updated. I then had to use my DVD to do a System Restore in order to start booting in again. Thinking of installing the updates one at a time to see which is the cause of the increased boot time, but will have to wait till next weekend. Will run Windows 8 as it is during the work week since it boots now.

Considering creating a restore image.

Ask any of your tech buddies and they may tell you that you can get Windows 8 Pro for 39.99. Wow! you say, that’s pretty good considering Windows 7 Ultimate was in the ~$400.00 price range. So you decide find whereabouts this purchase can be made.

Turns out, Microsoft sells it direct! Not only do they sell it, but they sell it through an app you download which tells you what version of the software you should buy, charge you for it, and let you download and install it immediately.

Sweet! I bust out the credit card, charge $40.00 and off I go into the following prompts.

Awesome, download begins, then gives me a prompt where to save it to and then the kicker…It asks me how I want to go about Installing this new OS. I want a Fresh install of course! Windows 8 does seem much different form a UI perspective.  So I choose “Save ISO and Burn to DVD to install on a computer later”. Perfect. The file is made and put on my desktop, and it even gives me an option to burn the DVD now, which I proceed to do.

So I shut down and unplug everything from my PC, remove my old 120 GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD Hard Drive, leaving the other 4 in my system, and install in it’s place my new 256 GB OCZ Vertex 4 SSD Hard Drive of which I am eager to fill with games and apps (I ran out of room for all the BETA’s I am part of). I turn the computer on, boot into the DVD, and Voila! The windows load screen appears…and just sits there…for an hour.

Ok! Time to search the forums…after 30 minutes of searching, many don’t know why it’s doing this and are blaming processors, but it turns out you just happen to have to remove any SD card readers from the system during installation…weird…but lets give it ago. Yep! Worked! Installing. Shame I can’t find where I found the resource for that to give credit, it almost blew the day away.

Windows 8 Pro Prompts me for my new CD key, of which Microsoft e-mailed me from the purchase I made through the windows app. I choose the new Hard Drive. It begins installing; Excellent.

The rest of the configuration went without a hitch. It started up, customized, downloaded all my apps. I installed my normal software and games; all working great. Awesome!

Then I notice Windows isn’t activated…and my heart sinks when I click to activate it and it says something along the lines of “This license is only good for an Upgrade License, not for clean installs”. I thought I just blew $40.00, my time and a reformat.

I had to leave for dinner, so for two hours I furiously browsed the web on my wonderfully amazing Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3, and came up with two solutions, I only tried the one, and it WORKED!

The fix was found in a comment on this site. Here is the comment by “scottoe”:

It works similarly to Windows 7 upgrades – do it twice. You can install from a formatted disc but it will not activate because it is the wrong product key for an upgrade. You then install it a second time, as an upgrade to itself and it will activate. I did a custom install the first time, booting from the Win 8 DVD and deleted the old Win 7 partition and then installed Win 8. Then launched the Win 8 setup from the desktop and installed it as an upgrade and was then able to activate it with the upgrade key. I did it today with success. It does not give any indication of a problem the first time until you try to activate it, when it displays the invalid product key message.

So at first, I am thinking…this is retarded…why would this work? Why would they give you a full version ISO, allow an upgrade license to install the software, then require you to re-install over itself to “Convert” it to upgrade software?

I get home and pop in the Windows DVD I made, and run it. It goes through this whole process, doesn’t even ask me where I want it installed, just if I want to install it and keep my files programs and settings. I say sure, since I have already configured the rig and it then proceeds to churn for 30 minutes or so.

A few reboots later, I go through all the setup screens again, but find my profile is intact and all my apps are here. I check on my windows license status in the about computer section, and it is ALREADY activated! When the PC started itself up after the “Upgrade”, it just decided to activate itself with Microsoft.

Although I think this method is awesome and I am very happy with my purchase now, I would still like to know who at Microsoft, decided it was effective licensing and anti-piracy measure, to recommend, and then sell users a $40.00 Upgrade Only License (but only reads Windows 8 Pro, not “Upgrade”) FROM THEIR OWN WEBSTORE, that lets you download a FULL ISO, BURN IT TO CD, authorize a  FULL  CLEAN INSTALL, then after installing Windows 8, have to INSTALL IT AGAIN OVER ITSELF to flag it as an Upgrade?  Do they realize how many people are going to buy the Retail Box, which is also UPGRADE ONLY, do a clean install, and wonder WTF to do?

If you look at the this Microsoft page I think I figured out why this method works. This is how it reads:

You can install the upgrade only on PCs that have a valid base license and one of the following operating systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP (SP3).

What Microsoft may have not taken into account, is that Windows 8 Pro, in it’s ISO form, provided by them to the user, fulfills the “valid base license” requirement for the upgrade to take place. The Upgrade license allows a person to install a fresh copy; it doesn’t distinguish between what type of license it is at initial install, only on activation AFTER install. The “upgrade”, in essence, performs a “reinstall” or a “repair” which, because it was installed from a Windows based Operating System, qualifies it as “Upgrade” software after the process.

Why not just…let it activate? Seriously? Why all this hassle?

I just went through like 2 hours worrying that I would have to reformat AGAIN, because after installing Windows 8, setting up all my apps, I found I couldn’t Activate due to choosing a fresh install. This had nothing to do with me having the wrong license, just with using a valid, yet poorly thought through method on Microsoft’s part, to go about the upgrade.

PROCESS! Stop making things USER HOSTILE if you want people to keep adopting your software! If you are going to give your users an install file, and a license, they better damn work. And they should work without having to go through these hoops and online research. If I wanted to do all that, I would have installed a Linux build.

There is another possible way to correct this without the re-install method, though I have not tried it. I found the solution at hard forum through Google Searches. The idea is to tell windows its an upgrade copy via a registry key, then rearm the activation sequence, reboot, and let it activate…it might be simpler and worth a try before doing what I did which took a TON of time.

This is the process:

1. hit ctrl+r
2. look for  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\OOBE] and change ”MediaBootInstall”=dword:00000001 to  ”MediaBootInstall”=dword:00000000
3. Open elevated command prompt (Right click -> Run As Administrator)
4. Type slmgr -rearm <enter>
5. reboot
6. auto activation will occur on next boot.

If you use the first method, don’t forget to run disk cleanup when the upgrade completes, which will free about 26 GB of data from the “Upgrade of your Upgrade”. Also, pick up a free copy of Windows Media Center while they are giving them away and save yourself another $10.00, might as well!

Good luck upgrading! I am looking forward to writing GOOD things about Windows 8 as I am enjoying the new user interface, it is a breath of fresh air, and the OS seems to boot and run very very smooth. I love the windows app store concept, and their multi-platform. integration. IF they can keep the cost of their OS around 40 – 80 dollars I am sure it will be adopted quickly, barring the installation issues…

There is a psychological tendency to pair the person bringing your assignments with the negative feelings often felt about the task. Some requests seem very ridiculous or tedious, but this isn’t due to the manager. The key is to separate this feeling from the person who brought it

The easiest method for keeping this tendency from arising include consciously stopping groaning and moaning about tasks verbally while recieving assignment as well as while talking about the assignment to others involved in the project. Pay attention the the atmosphere you create. Not only will keeping positive about the assignment help avoid this psychological by product, but will also make the project more bearable and often increases productivity. Also, by removing your initial negative affect, you create opportunities to find solutions to the task quicker, while exposing yourself to the full details of the project.

Ask questions and be involved with the manager. Project managers spend a lot of time going over  projects an what needs to be done. They have to interpret the details to you and your team. Be conscious about this, and understand that by asking questions and being attentively involved you will be able to extract information about the project that your manager may have missed or deemed unimportant. Ask nicely, and clearly, so the manager can understand.  Develop a relationship with them and pay attention to it. Always remember to be kind. The more frustration you show, the harder it is for them to present information to you, and the more uneasy they will feel the next time around.

The bearer of bad news should always be treated as an equal team member, not an outcast.

If you try to micromanage every aspect of a task, or command, step by step, your team members through every minute detail, you may be setting up both you and your team, to fail. You can’t possibly fulfill everyone’s role, nor be their every step of the way for them. You also put the weight of success completely on your shoulders…guess whose fault it is if your team fails?

Personal Responsibility means allowing others to take responsibility for the role they have been assigned. Everyone should be empowered to have the responsibility for their role or station in a project. They should be given the respect and trust to succeed at that role. This not only inspires the individual, but evens the burden across the entire team, especially you as a team leader.

If team members fail, offer suggestions and paths they can take to ratify the situation without overwhelming them or doing it for them. If they consistently fail, while the rest of your team is growing, then you may have identified a weak link in your team that may need to be replaced or reassigned.

There is a difference between being capable, and being willing. It’s interesting that you will notice that without either, a task can’t be done. The easiest thing for a team leader to inspire is the willingness to do a job, it is up to the team member to hone their skill to match that inspiration. Give them time and keep them encouraged and you will find yourself surrounded with many successful individuals, including yourself!

This is a huge attempt to create fear in something that most people in the United States understand even less than the Middle East…the internet, and the internet elite.

Fear mongering is terrible, I can’t believe they are using Broadcast Media to make people fear Anonymous; It’s a very aggressive power play by both those in political power and corporate interests, if we are not careful they will strip grotesque amounts of freedom from us through well funded media campaigns and rumor mills.

Both television media and the internet are outlets for news media and information; the internet however, actually has public input and feedback. What the government doesn’t understand is in 2012, people will not just see The One Truth of Broadcast Media, but instead be faced with reports, information, and conversation online that may refute or contradict the nightly news. These mixed messages will either confuse or enlighten the people. Eventually online sources will discover and start reporting on the fear mongering found in Broadcast Media and general press. But will it do anything? Is the amount of people who use the internet as their primary news source at critical mass?

This is a very scary time for the net, and for technology in general.

With the way things are going, the only clear government solutions are extremes. Block this, ban that, monitor these.  I have a simpler two step solution:

1. Ban the use of technology except to authorized government officials that are allowed to use, develop, or heck, know about tech.
2. Dumb down whatever tech we need to use day to day, so that you won’t ever have to understand how it works.

Sarcasm aside, extreme measures like this seem to be the only way the government knows how to control Cybercrime and piracy, because they do not understand it. Their methods and ideology of control and enforcement methods are outdated, archaic, and dangerous!

If anything like this were to pass, it would be a huge step in the wrong direction. Even without it, the constant stream of Proposed Censorship Bills coupled with News Articles on “Cyber Terrorism” and “Online Piracy” are having a huge effect. It is creating an effect of Digital Paranoia in businesses as well as at home.

I can already feel the fear of expressing myself online building. Even as I talk about privacy, piracy, freedom of speech and other issues in Google+, I fear I will be grouped up as an Anonymous member, supporter, etc, of which I am not.

But soon, even discussing these issues will be synonymous with Terrorism. That is what they are trying to do, isn’t that frightening in it of itself?

I am afraid that all those who tweet and have tweeted about SOPA, PIPA, and Piracy will be monitored by the government (at least more heavily than everyone else.)

I am afraid for kids who retweet posts by Anonymous and hang out in their IRC channel thinking they are “cool”, not knowing that a yet to be known Bill could pass, grab records of their past yet innocent involvement (even if just looking, guilty by association) and end up losing their internet access, freedoms (jail), careers, and more.

I am afraid of the stand that I took against Internet Censorship on January 18th, along with millions of other concerned citizens in the USA and around the world; because it may label me a “target“, “threat” or “collaborator“.

I am really afraid of what is coming, and I am not sure if it can be stopped. Has the will of the people been sapped so much, by years of direct message marketing and politicking through television media advertisement, that it cannot make a change?

Congress continues to push Bills through the system to try and get “something” passed, and lately a real heavy focus has been on the topic of “Internet Control“. Yet, the same senators who have been defeated continue to bring up Bill after Bill, under the guise of different names, ethics and subjects. These politicians receive no retort for their actions, only funding from their corporate friends and lobbyists. They have never stopped to consider that the people, the internet, may want to be left alone to express themselves freely.

Why is it that when companies and politicians finally join the international playground that is the internet, the first thing they want to do is seize control of the swings and kick the cool kids out?

Two days ago I wrote a blog on the new Age of Digital Paranoia

…and here it begins…

http://www.filesonic.com now only allows Downloading of files personally uploaded, all sharing has been disabled.

There is no reason why. More than likely it is either because the company feels they are at risk of a MegaUpload style shutdown, or they are already currently being forced into this decision.

The US Government is succeeding in spreading fear in the corporate cloud world. Who is next? Dropbox ?

SOPA and PIPA are the equivalent of the government demolishing a street because I was standing on it selling a bootleg copy of Spiderman 3. – Daniel Chambliss

Any website with a Browse and upload file button, whether it is for pictures, music or movies, or even a search through files button, has the possibility of enabling, even if not promoting, piracy.

Any company, any website, with this type of functionality, (which is almost all) is at risk should a law like SOPA, PIPA or ACTA get passed. Moreso are file sharing companies such as Dropbox or Box.net .

Shutting down all channels for Piracy on the internet means shutting down the internet. Anywhere that you can share information, pictures or video enables a user to share or receive pirated digital property…there is NO avoiding this.

The spirit of the internet is free flow of information, any restriction, technically imposed, means the stifling of that spirit.

Our only hope is that the people of the World (not just the USA) want this channel for freedom to remain open.

Speak up, don’t STOP speaking up. It is NOT over. Tell your representatives first why an open internet is important to maintain. Show them the wonders that have been created. Then tell your friends, tell your family, help them understand what is going on.

The media isn’t covering this, it can only spread via the net and word of mouth. Those who primarily use television for news need to know what is on the horizon…the death of the internet.

Today heralds a new information age, not one of expansion and freedom, but one of fear and contraction. MegaUpload was taken down today by the FBI.

Not only is MegaUpload not based on the United States ( It had only 2 servers in VA, allowing the US to claim jurisdiction over the whole site), but it was one of the top 10 to 15 websites visited daily in the world. Over 50 million people used MegaUpload daily.

It is generally known that MegaUpload is a haven for pirated content, as users are not restricted when they post. MegaUpload complies with DMCA noticed when asked, but probably not as much as it should have. I would like to say I do not support MegaUpload in any endeavors of piracy.

The problem is not the piracy, its the real users, and the message that was sent today.

Any data stored online, legal or illegal, can disappear in an instant without warning due to United States government ruling.

The first thing I thought when reading up on the situation about MegaUpload was: What about Dropbox? What about any of the sites that I store files in the cloud? What if some jerks want to store pirated movies in Dropbox and Dropbox gets shut down?

I should take my data off the cloud! It’s not secure!

That is the message they sent today!

MegaUpload didn’t just store infringing videos and music, it stored documents, user created movies and music, as well as other files that may even be critical to Business! Where did they go? What if they didn’t have a backup? What do they do now? What if most of their business surrounded non pirate use of Megaupload?

This is such a step backward, we were making so much progress moving further and further into the cloud, making things secure, connecting people and data in a wonderful weave of free flow information and now….this…this takedown sends us right back to where we were. Now we will have to hide our information on our own devices, keeping it off the cloud not for fear of theft but of legislation that threatens to cause unreliable service!

It’s bad enough that the ISP’s have enforced Bandwidth Caps, but now there is no point to store data in the cloud at all! You cant upload or download it all due to bandwidth caps and if you do manage to get it there a government takedown threatens to disintigrate your data in an instant.

If you keep taking down major websites at a whim, with no public notice, even after years of private investigation you are going to destroy the consumer trust in the cloud that has been painstakingly built over the past few years! Stop this! It has to stop now! Put MegaUpload back up!

We cannot innovate on the net if we cant rely on the connection to one another, if you keep destroying websites that matter to people, how will we know what websites will be there tomorrow? Which ones can we trust? Which ones can we invest in?

Any application that stores any information online is at risk! Because if content can be stored, then piracy is possible, not to say it is done, but possible.

So we are now saying that if a certain fantastical and made up number or % of the traffic or storage on a service is pirated and infringing copyright, (which would take YEARS to prove) we can shut down a service completely, without warning, and disregard any of the valid files that people might want to back up?!

The decisions for cloud products will no longer be based on price or quality, but based on who passes MPAA / RIAA inspection!

To imagine that SOPA and / or PIPA would expedite the process of taking down / blocking sites like what we just saw with MegaUpload, with even less notice to both users and the infringing site, not to mention not even needing much proof!

Can I get a MPAA / RIAA Seal of Authenticity or Badge to show on my website to ward off authorities? Throw us a bone!

If you have been paying attention to the internets today, you would notice that Anonymous launched an all out attack against the music industry and any copyright related websites including the justice.gov, fbi.gov, copyright.gov, mpaa.com, riaa.com, wmg.com, bmi.com and more. You can see pictures with timestamps in my Google+ Album here.

Over 5600 Hackers gathered together to choreograph this attack after a very prominent website, Megaupload, was taken down for copyright infringement. No details of the copyright infringement have easily surfaced, but Megaupload is a relatively simple channel to trade pirated virtual goods, knowingly or unknowingly.

Just a day ago, protests broke out on the internet regarding SOPA and PIPA, two bills, which if passed, would ruin the internet as we know it and make it a playground for frivolous claims of copyright infringement from the entertainment industry and its affiliates. And heck, it could been be used as a weapon by competiting businesses to knock people out of the game. The protest was held by major players, everyone from Wikipedia (who blacked out completely for a day) to Google had some sort of protest or message.  Thousands of online businesses and websites also followed. A list can be found at sopastrike.com where my company Esotech is also listed. Millions of letters went out and thousands of phone calls were made to local house and senate representatives as a result of these efforts.

“Guilty until proven innocent”

This is the fundamental tenet behind SOPA, your website goes down before you are notified, and then you have to fight the legal system to get it back up. Win or lose, you get nothing as compensation. There is no bond here folks. Whether you are Facebook.com or hosted at Geocities; if you have anywhere that someone can upload copyrighted material to your site, or if you use it yourself, knowingly or unknowingly, you are liable, and immediatly bannable from the United States DNS servers (Also destroying any trust we have in DNS, but that’s another story). There are plenty of articles on why SOPA is Bad.

The protests seemed very successful, just check out this chart.  It looks like we were making progress…then suddenly…Megaupload is gone. They didn’t even need SOPA to be active to do it! But Why? Why NOW? Why a Day after a huge public uproar about Censorship?

The internet was outraged of course, millions visit megaupload every day. Out came the hackers, and the new modified low orbit ion cannon began to fire, this time with both unwilling and willing subjects creating a DDoS on government and music industry sites. The firepower came from the people. Links to the cannon on Social Media sites such as twitter,  hidden as updates on the whole Operation by Anonymous, allowed millions of computers to bombard these websites shutting them down for minutes if not hours at a time. Some were hit harder than others, and some bounced on and off. But the point was made, people are pissed.

We come back to the simple question of why today?

I believe the reason has to do with discrediting the opponents of SOPA, the tech guys, as being anarchistic nutcases that are against the American people. I think it also had to do with the government wanting to show the technology community, that it can do whatever it wants. Big or small, they can bring up charges of copyright infringement and shut you down, with or without SOPA.

Its a power play, and it can go one of two ways:

1. The acts that happened today are seen as a reason to enable DNS filtering, and those who opposed SOPA  and PIPA are seen as irresponsible and incapable of diplomacy, further fueling the fire of censorship and corporate domination of the internet.
2. The reason for the acts today are discussed: The reasons and effect that a sudden disruption / takedown of a service like Megaupload has on both users and Megaupload as a Business. This disruption could make even more of the nation aware of the issues regarding SOPA and PIPA, ensuring that our internet remains free from censorship as people rally behind the hackers as defenders and retributors instead of anarchists.

…unfortunately the media is on their side and will display it in their favor to bring SOPA back to the table. Remember, they control television and news media. Never has the fight for something like this been so fierce. This is a historic time. This is a fight for something that has never existed, but was expected to be a human right…the free flow of information through technology. Most websites, and indeed, social media platforms developed on the idea of sharing content between users, but SOPA and PIPA oppose this idea, labeling the internet as a medium for piracy, and anything that RISKS promotion of piracy, should be shut down. Imagine the innovation that would have been stifled had this been in effect while Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Google were developing? With a lawyer at every turn, no one is going to want to develop for the internet anymore…it would cost too much just to be compliant with this silly bill.

The entertainment industry is trying to indirectly control the internet by introducing the only things they know they have control over because of their vast wealth: law, lawyers and lawsuits. If these acts change Congressmen’s stance on SOPA and PIPA we could be in a world of hurt, the internet will change as we know it, our favorite websites will disappear in seconds, without notice. The entertainment industry needs to stop seeing its end users as opponents instead of customers.

Indeed, it will be interesting to see how the next few days pan out…I hope you all will be watching as closely as I will.

Hey! Listen!

I am an avid Android / Droid fan but struggled with putting together a notifications theme.

One of my favorite video game series, as for most, is the Legend of Zelda. I’ve only had the fortune to keep up with it through the Ocarina of Time. Although I did play and complete Twilight Princess; it doesn’t hold as much memory for me as Ocarina and a Link to the Past did, probably because I was so much younger at the time.

Although at times annoying, Navi is one of my favorite characters from Ocarina of Time. She is essentially, Links smartphone, giving him notifications and warnings as to whats going on. I was able to find a great site for downloading Zelda Sounds and grabbed as many Navi and Ocarina of Time related sounds as I could. I have provided them in the following Zip with descriptive file names telling you what sound it is and for what application.

I did not include Ringtones with this theme, but I did provide suggestions in a text file. I purchased and downloaded Zeldastep from Ephixa, which I use for both my ringtone (Lost Woods Dubstep) and alarm (Gerudo Valley Dubtep). I highly recommend buying their CD or digital download,  listen for yourself!

I bundled a copy of my Droid Wallpaper – the inverted Esotech Logo with Navi floating away which came out looking really nice! For those of you who just want Navi, I also included her alone on a black background. Enjoy!

Download navi-droid-theme.zip

Here is a list of the Files and What they do:

• Navi Hello – Google Voice
• Navi Hey – G+ Notification
• Navi Fly In – Twitter Notification
• Navi Listen – Google Talk
• Navi Look – Google Calendar Notification
• Navi Fly Out – Foursquare Notification
• Navi Watch Out – Battery Low Notification
• Ocarina of Time - Gain Heart – Gmail
• Ocarina of Time – Pause Sound – General Notification
• Ocarina of Time – Unpause Sound – Text Message

I am open to any suggestions for improvement!

The best way to grow is to keep your confidence level slightly above your skill level.

Why do I say this? Because it pushes you past your boundaries without breaking them. As a technician, manager or even business owner, if you remain within the comforts of what you know how to do, you stay there.

I am not saying if you are a IT geek, go get a job as a cook, no. I mean, as the IT person who is used to a certain way of programming, or language…step out of those bounds and start working at something you have never encountered or been asked to do. Make small projects for yourself that test your limits, slightly. Try writing in a language you never had before, and let Google be your guide! Search! Learn! Solve!

Doing this keeps you on your toes and forces you to figure out a new way to do things. The only thing that comes out of this is growth, as long as it is done slightly. No sense trying to do something that completely forces you to reinvent your own wheels! You want to grow, not break yourself down.

Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam team takes a similar approach, he has a “30 day” program where you tell yourself you are going to do something for 30 days, and do it no matter what. This is an excellent program however my approach is somewhat different…take what you are good at and modify it so its a bit more difficult, not comfortable. When that becomes easy, move onto something new.

Don’t get caught in a rut doing the same thing day in and day out. The more you can do, the more valuable you are, and the easier it will be to overcome opportunities in the future.

Being in SEO, I often search for my own name to see how its ranking, making sure I dominate the first page. I also go by a pseudoname “geilt”, that I picked up during my adventures into spirituality, and research into Celtic mythology and spirituality then later used in MMO‘s and Online Gaming. It is an old Gaelic term that means “one who has gone made from terror”. Searching for it I found this lovely article by Erynn Rowan Laurie on her blog about Geiltadecht.

She describes a geilt as:

It is translated as “one who goes mad from terror, a panic-stricken fugitive from battle, a crazy person living in the woods and supposed to be endowed with the power of levitation, a lunatic.” It may also be the name of some kind of bird or it might mean “grazing.” The title I’m using here, geiltadecht, is a neologism to describe the practice of the geilta.

This is the title that I also found from a book called the Lost Books of Merlyn, where I originally encountered the word “geilt”, though the description was vague and only mentioned Merlyn as a Geilt. Although Meryln had not technically gone mad, as Suibhne Geilt did, there can be other interpretations of the word. Madness, has different meanings from different perspectives, as can be seen in this next quote:

Other “madmen” in the Celtic literary tradition, including Myrddin and Lailoken, were regarded as prophets — seers and possessors of a certain “crazy wisdom.”

Crazy wisdom may not mean that the person is insane, but could mean that the standard of knowledge they have attained is seen as crazy by others. Philosophies and concepts such as Non Dualism (Advaita), Emptiness (Shunyata), the World as Illusion (Maya) are examples of ideas that don’t work in society. Try telling someone that love does not exist, nor hate, nor any emotion they feel; that its all an illusion; and see what kind of response you get?

This next excerpt is excellent as it show the contradictory nature of the term, and the philosophy I see behind it.

That said, the nature of the geilt means that control is often an illusion. Interpretation and acceptance is a more fruitful path for one with these proclivities. This is not in any way suggesting “giving up” but merely a statement that the world and the Otherworlds are vaster than we can understand and we, mere humans, have very little power over some things that happen.

Knowing control is an illusion, that what you do is not actually you, but something that is just happening, and accepting it. It is hard to describe. A Geilt realizes that they are doing something and have choice in doing what they are doing, but then realize that this thing that they are doing, is only being done, without purpose, reason, and even without need for control…

a geilt is an outsider, someone who lurks on the boundaries of groups and societies. That inclination to solitude is part of what marks someone as geilt

Every Geilt is different and so are the symptoms of madness! But this much is true, the “mad wisdom” a Geilt has usually stays with themself, and why? Because most aren’t ready to hear it, or if they are, are not willing to discuss it. “That person is just “crazy”, he doesn’t fit into my little box that i’ve put the world in and what I have defined as it’s “parameters”.”

Within the experience of geiltadecht, madness and destruction is the foundation for transformation.

Madness and Destruction happen both physically and metaphorically, in the mind and body, these experiences are transformative and depending on how it is harnessed, can open doors or close them. Concepts of geiltadecht exist in Eastern Traditions as well such as Shaivism, where there is Worship of Shiva the Destroyer, who brings about wondrous transformations. Even the older Rigvedic God’s such as Rudra are worshiped for their destructive yet regenerative qualities.

Erynn will have a paper on the concept of Geilt in a academic book that is soon to be published by Macmillan: Disability and Religious Diversity