Minimal Perfection #2: Ben Converts to the Dark Side
The second episode of Minimal Perfection is out. Leave us feedback by leaving a comment or email us at admin@minimalperfection.com
Show Notes: (revision 5)
We talked about Ben’s new MacBook Pro that he got on Monday (11/20).
17″ Widescreen w/ all the goodies.
And yes, Ben calls it OS X, not OS 10. Deal with it.
Roman numerals should have died with Rome.
We talked about IRC clients, and how there aren’t any really great ones for OS X. Xirc has potential, but is still pre-version 1, and even as such it costs $24 to remove the nag window.
mIRC is still the best client.
We talked about networking, specifically Ben’s network setup and equipment.
He is going to be switching to a Linksys WRT54gl Wireless G router as his gateway because he can run open source firmware on it which comes with a built in VPN server. He uses the DD-WRT firmware. Jordan is using HyperWRT. Jordan mentioned how Linksys has been using closed source software on their newer routers so that you can’t use 3rd party firmware, and they have reduced the hardware specs. The GL however still has the open source firmware, and has decent specs (for a home router).
OpenDNS has announced a new accounts feature that lets you add your IP/network to your account, and then manage them from there. OpenDNS offers free DNS servers that have typo-correction and phishing protection built-in. OpenDNS also has statistics about your DNS queries that you can look at. Jordan says he wishes that OpenDNS would allow users to request that DNS for specific sites be flushed and re-cached.
Ben plugged Dreamhost – sign up with the promo code MINIMALP for big money off already inexpensive packages. Survive being dugg/slashdotted!
Cisco bought out Linksys a while ago. Ben took a Cisco class in high school where he got to play a bit with the Cisco IOS. Cisco offers classes like that to colleges (who then offer it to high schools) via their Cisco Networking Academy, which Ben and Jordan both complained about netacad. Cisco often likes to make up their own terminology. 
We went to see the new James Bond / 007 movie Casino Royale, which was an awesome movie. Go see it.
Is Digg going downhill?
We think so.
Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft agreed on a standard format for sitemaps for websites. A sitemap is basically just a listing of all the pages on your site.
We talked briefly about the nextgen consoles.
[Download]
Love the arguing have a full out fight sometime over Apple and Microsoft. Looking forward to the next cast!
Thanks Graham, and I think that’s a good idea! Both companies certainly have their strengths and weaknesses.
Of course Apple would get pwned it that fight.