Nice subject, eh?
Fresca is the web server that my site has been on at Dreamhost for ages now. Bengals is the new machine. Yay more modern systems…
Fresca is a dual core opteron 2.2 ghz with 4 gigs of Ram. Bengals is a quad core 2.0 ghz Xeon with 16 gigs of ram.
The end result? More power!!!!! Er… less sluggish wordpress install? The DB server is the same, which concerns me, but we’ll see.
In other news, the world has been all abuzz over the iPad. More interesting is the discussion of Apple as a luxury brand. I’m not sure why this is even a topic of discussion, as it seems obvious. Apple is like, say, Lexus. Yes, the cars are very nice, and have all sorts of little details that a Kia might not. But there’s as much a status/brand recognition thing going on as quality.
That’s how I look at Apple. I REALLY like Mac OS X. I can get about 80% of my UI/environment matched on my Fedora laptop for about 5% of the cost of a Mac. I like the unibody aluminum chassis, the backlit keyboard… all those little things. Like the Lexus it comes at a price.
Happily, I’ve gotten my last few upgrades for free via employers, but prior to that I’ve bought many a new MacThing. I’m aware of the reaction to showing up at a coffee shop with a shiny new Apple. It’s a bit awkward, and I know that people make certain assumptions about you based on the presentation you make. But, that’s just something that happens, and I feel pretty neutral about it.
Anyway, back to the iPad. I like the idea. I’ll want to play with one in person, but it seems like it would be a fun system. It’s lacking a couple of things that I’d really like to see, and which I suspect will be in V2. My main gripe is lack of a way to connect a digital camera to it. This seems like a great thing to bring with you when you travel, and to use to upload photos. Then again, lately I use my iPhone more often than my Rebel XT.
In other other news, I had a sad molding failure… The thickened layer of Rebound 25 on my clone rifle never fully cured. I suspect the basement got too cold at night for it. 2 days later and it’s still sticky. So, I’m calling that side of the mold a failure and starting over.
I removed it, fixed up the clay barrier, and put a new coat down tonight.
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