I recently put my 8 gig flash drive to use it for my Xackr efforts. I noticed at startup my machine immediately started doing something that was eating enough machine cycles to slow down my computer considerably. I opened Task Manager to try to determine what was running and running my machine down. The culprit? Windows Media Player was doing something hot and heavy. A little further digging and it turns out it was indexing the 8 gig flash drive that is nothing more than a portable apps drive. Did I need it indexed? Nope. Was I even WANTING to run Windows Media Player? Nope. Now multiply my machine times every other machine that has a flash drive installed that is being indexed at startup needlessly and unasked and you see monopoly programming at it's worst - wasting probably megawatts of electricity. And Windows Media Player is just one small example. It seems like almost every application I install follows Microsoft's lead and tries to install things that run in the Task Tray at startup rather than waiting until I actually want or need it to run. This "pushing" us toward what they want versus just helping us do what we want is at the core of corrupt computing. It is this kind of thing that makes Ubuntu and OS X more attractive as there is a lot less "background noise" on both of those operating systems.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Building the Xackr Network 2.6
| The hubbub from the holidays have finally settled down and its time to get back to saving the planet. Where the heck is that red cape? I'm going to add a mini PC to the Xackr arsenal (see the Amazon inset) and I believe I have the recipes I need to get started to give you the tools you need to Xack your own life. If you are on tier 1 - No Money, No Tools - then walk to the nearest bank and ask for a free pen and then ask them if they have something you can write on. Problem solved. The whole paradox of building a Xackr network through a blog is you have to have access to see it. Ironic. Like when I was little my dad told me he would buy me a guitar if I would learn to play it first. That baked my little 8 year old brain for sure. |
So step one in building the network is mapping the free wifi in your area. I will begin in my East Mississippi stomping grounds. Once you find good reliable free wifi in you area put a pushpin in your Xackr network and make a sweep outward from there. Part of building the network will be recruiting/encouraging/begging businesses to make their wifi available to John Q. Public. Once a useful documented map of wifi exists you can take quantum steps toward eliminating PAPER. Finally. You can also start to build your local Xackr network of people with the combined goal of "making life better." This means greening, sharing and caring. We can make things better first just by connecting and finding our common values, stop being driven by mindless consumption, and starting to take care of what we already have. I will be posting my wifi findings for my area here and maybe build a way for us all to share in one spot. If you have ideas contact me at my youtube account - Xackr.
Have a great new year - make life better!
Map has been started here. Contact me if you wish to collaborate.
