Technology on the Poop Deck: Banner Ads, Microsoft, and iPods

[cahwyguy]

Everytime we get a quarter of the poop deck clean, some RSS feed comes along and makes a mess, leaving us to swab it again. Here are some technological arrrrrr-ticles that will soon walk the plank:

• Banner Ads. One of the few articles I remember from Communications of the ACM was an article that discussed how ATM networks work: they collect all the information, and then it is bounce, bounce, bounce till they get the answer and it bounces back to you. It turns out that banner ad networks are similar, bouncing back in microseconds to get bids on what ad to show you. Always need to learn what happens behind the scenes.
• Windows 10. Speaking of behind the scenes, did you know that if you have a non-Windows 10 machines (i.e., Win7 or Win8), Microsoft has been using your disk storage and bandwidth to download the Windows 10 image just in case you decide to load it. I’ve confirmed they’ve done it on my machine — and I haven’t even reserved a copy of Windows 10. It’s not even clear if they keep that image up to date. If you are tight on disk space (it takes multiple gigs), you should learn about it and how to remove it.
• iPod Classic Update. Just a few items related to the iPod Classic. First, here’s a review of 5 of the best iPod Alternatives, as well as a writeup of yet another alternative (Tidal) to hit the market. Then again, you could just upgrade your iPod: Tarkan has just launched iFlash-Dual — an adapter that allows you to replace your hard disk with 2 SD cards (yes, you can do 2 x 256G). Given that my response there has provided me a connection in West Covina that can do the upgrade, I might do this at the end of the year. Supposedly, if I do, the next limit I’ll hit is the 60,000 song limit — remember, I’m already over 36,000 songs. (more on this upgrade here)

Music: The Sammy Davis Jr. Show: “Sam’s Song” (Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin)

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