PaulStamatiou.com — Tech News, Reviews and Guides

First Impressions: VaultPress (WordPress Backup)

August 30, 2010

Three years ago I wrote How To: Bulletproof Server Backups with Amazon S3, a post where I showed off a basic cron job’d script I used to backup my entire server to S3 nightly. I have been using some form of that script since then to backup my blog. Fortunately, I have never had a situation where I needed to completely restore my blog, though it was handy for the few times I accidentally nuked my root .htaccess file or something. Ideally, I would keep everything under git version control and possibly have a nice WordPress Capistrano setup on my server for keeping WordPress and related non-media files safe and easily accessible (versus having to download then decompress a huge archive just to get to one file). In addition, I would have an rsync to S3 backup for media files and the database. But like many of you, I don’t have the time to figure that out right now. That’s why I became intrigued when I first caught wind of Automattic’s turnkey WordPress backup service called VaultPress. Pay a monthly fee, set it and forget it.

My backup situation looked like this (and a terminal) before VaultPress.

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Tagged as : Automattic, Backup, blog, Blogging, Blogs, Plugin, Real-time, Review, S3, Software, Technology, VaultPress, WordPress

11 comments

The Startup Diet: How I Lost 35 Pounds While Working Overtime

August 9, 2010

I recently decided to change the way I was taking care of my body. It should be no surprise that I am always on my computer – at least 12-15 hours per day. I am 5′ 9″ but used to weigh an undesirable 170-175 pounds. Most of this was brought on during my first years of college. I entered college as a skinny freshman with tons of energy that I soon channeled to my keyboard. Around January 2009, just after I had graduated from Georgia Tech, I began working full-time on Skribit from my apartment in Atlanta. My lifestyle had become one of pure startup routine. I was loving it; building what I wanted from home all day sounded like a dream come true. I used to run into “I haven’t been outside in three days” situations regularly. [Continue reading …]

Tagged as : Caloric Intake, Diet, Exercise, Gym, Health, Lose Weight, Nutrition, Programming, Startup, Startups, Vitamins, Workout

211 comments

Thoughts on Netbooks: Part 2 (Asus Eee PC Edition)

July 31, 2010

Just over a year ago I wrote an article called Thoughts on Netbooks where I discussed the current state of the netbook landscape. Ultimately I ended that article saying that I didn’t think netbook software was there just yet and that the hardware was still maturing. I decided to revisit this discussion now to see how things have changed. Also, now that the populace seems to be reveling about with their iPads (and the CrunchPad I mentioned in that last article has just about fizzled away). My interest in netbooks was renewed when Krystyl gave me an Asus Eee PC (from last year’s PayPalx conference).

First things first — removing Windows XP and installing Ubuntu Netbook Edition

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Tagged as : Android, Apple, ASUS, ASUS Eee, Asus Eee PC, Editorials, Eee, Giganews, HD, iPad, Laptop, Laser Mouse, Linux, Logitech, Mouse, Netbook, Nexus One, Time Capsule, Ubuntu, Usenet, VPN, VyprVPN, Wi-Fi

33 comments

Review: HTML5 for Web Designers

July 13, 2010

While it went on sale back in May, A List Apart‘s first publication, HTML5 for Web Designers, only just began shipping. I have been eagerly awaiting my copy and it just arrived. I’m not normally compelled to write reviews of technical books I read, mainly because I don’t read them all at once and they usually just lie around my apartment as an every-so-often technical resource (when Google turns up nothing). This book is different. It reads like much less of a verbose white paper — or HTML5 specification rather — and more like a refreshing one-sitter.

At only 85 pages, this book is rather slim and handy for taking — and reading in its entirety — on my morning Caltrain commute to Notifo HQ.

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People: Bruce Lawson, Jeffrey Zeldman, Jeremy Keith, Mark Pilgrim, Remy Sharp

Tagged as : API, Browser, Camino, Canvas, Chrome, CSS, CSS3, doctype, Firefox, HTML5, Indexed DB, Internet, JavaScript, Modernizr, O'Reilly, Opera, Programming, Reviews, Safari, Software, Technical Book, Technology, W3C, Web Apps, Web Design, Web Designers, Web Dev, Web Forms, Web Storage, Web Workers, WebKit, WebSockets, WHATWG

60 comments

Turning 24

June 30, 2010

For the last few years I have written a blog post on my birthday. This birthday is no exception but while working late at Notifo tonight I decided to have some fun with it. Chad and I whipped up this simple page where you can send a birthday message directly to my phone. Notifo uses push — a lightning fast notification technology made possible by the flux capacitor powered by 1.21 jiggawatts — so I will get your message on my iPhone usually in under 3 seconds. We decided to make it the first of a bunch of examples/projects that will go on a future Notifo “Labs” site. You can view the PHP source here to see how it’s done and begin tinkering on your own.

For the next 24 hours, on my 24th birthday you can send me a message to my phone using Notifo. Cheers!

Notifo Labs - Send a birthday message to Stammy

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People: Paul Stamatiou

Tagged as : Birthday, Life, Notifo

10 comments

Review: $99 TonidoPlug Linux Home Server, NAS

June 28, 2010

Have you ever wanted to get more out of your home network, like adding a NAS, without ponying up for expensive hard drives with Ethernet built-in, Time Capsules, Drobos or the like? While some newer routers come with a USB port allowing users to add a hard drive or printer on the network, they are costly and rather limited in their functionality. It was this dilemma that had me pondering a custom solution when I wrote my series about building a cheap and small mini-ITX-based computer with the sole purpose of being a NAS and download box. That setup cost over $200 and required much hardware and software tinkering. For those looking for a cheaper and hassle-free solution, I would suggest the $99 TonidoPlug linux home server, NAS, cloud-in-a-plug… et cetera.

TonidoPlug unboxed.

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Tagged as : App Store, ARM, BitTorrent, Cloud, Cloud Services, computer networking, Hard Drives, Hardware, Linux, Marvell, NAS, Network, Network-attached Storage, Server, SheevaPlug, Software, Technology, Tonido, TonidoPlug, Ubuntu

107 comments

Notifo (YC W2010) Gets a Co-Founder… Me

June 16, 2010

Just over 5 weeks ago I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to seek new opportunities. I had no idea what I wanted to shift my full-time focus to and began connecting with people, researching and interviewing with a handful of companies — ranging from huge web presences all the way down to tiny startups. I considered companies in different spaces from finance all the way to video. I met with dozens of folks to see what they were up to and what their company was about. That led to me being wired on caffeine for a few weeks when I had 3-4 coffee meetings scheduled each day, but I digress. I am elated to announce, likely to the surprise of many, that last week I jumped onboard [Continue reading …]

People: Chad Etzel, Jessica Livingston, Paul Graham, Robert Morris, Trevor Blackwell

Tagged as : Android, API, GitHub, Google, Hacker News, iPhone, Mobile, Notifo, Software, Startups, Technology, Web Dev, Y Combinator, YC

100 comments

Why the Apple iPhone 4 Isn’t for Me

June 7, 2010

Hot on the heels of my quick review of the Sprint HTC EVO 4G, I’d like to take a minute to share my thoughts on the latest iPhone announced at WWDC today here in San Francisco. There seems to be two camps when it comes to the iPhone 4 — those that love it and those that hate it. Actually, it is more like three; love, hate and those that aren’t exactly sold on it but will buy it anyway. I have been onboard with the last 3 iPhones and waited in long lines on launch day to get most of them. However, I won’t be getting the iPhone 4 this time around.

The latest Apple pocket toy is 24% thinner and features a beautiful 960 x 640 IPS display.. so why don’t I care for it?

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People: Steve Jobs

Tagged as : 3G, A4, Android, Apple, apple worldwide developers conference, AT&T, Cell Phone, Cellular, EVO 4G, FaceTime, Google Android, Google Voice, GoogleVoice, Hardware, HD, HTC, iBooks, iOS4, iPhone, iPhone 4, IPS LCD, MicroCell, Mobile Phones, Multi-touch, multitasking, Safari, San Francisco, Software, Sprint, Technology, tethering, Wi-Fi, Wifi, WWDC

65 comments

Review: Sprint HTC EVO 4G Android Phone

June 4, 2010

For the last week I have been toting around two mobile phones: my usual iPhone 3GS workhorse with extended battery a la Mophie and the just-launched-today Sprint HTC EVO 4G on loan from Gregory Miller. This is my first time touching an Android device for more than just a few minutes. As such I think I’m interestingly posed to show a different perspective on the EVO from MG Siegler’s thoughts in his recent post entitled “An iPhone Lover’s Take On The HTC EVO 4G.” Similarly, the EVO 4G has received tremendous press as of late — mainly as it has geared itself as being the “it” phone of the month as well as the first 4G WiMAX phone ever.

The lovely HTC Sense UI upgrade adds lots of polish to the Android OS.. perhaps too much?

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Tagged as : 4G, Android, AT&T, Camera, Cell Phone, Eclair, EVO 4G, Froyo, Gadget, Google, Google Android, Hardware, HTC, iPhone, Mobile, Mobile Phones, Phone, Reviews, Software, Sprint, Sprint Mobile, Technology, WiMAX

36 comments

Working with Media Temple’s Developer (ve) Server

June 2, 2010

Media Temple has listened to the masses and finally made a VPS offering aimed at developers and advanced users. While their (dv) Dedicated-Virtual VPS offerings allowed users to have root access and the ability to modify much of the installed software, it was still a fairly turnkey solution: create a new account, transfer files/databases over and everything is ready to go. It also ran Parallels Plesk control panel which sys admins and developers unanimously seem to despise for a mixture of Plesk being a resource hog as well as only working well for out-of-the-box configurations and becoming a burden with custom setups — say, a Rails app. There is a large market for tech-savvy folks that prefer to handle all aspects of server setup and administration themselves. Enter the (ve) Virtual Environment.

Media Temple (ve) Virtual Environment Server

A new product series has been created, ProDev, which caters to the side of our customer base that wishes to take hosting a step further. These users want more controls and low-level options. Therefore, we’re working on new ProDev products, such as an API, CDN and Advanced DNS, that compliment (ve) Server.
— (mt)

You know who these people are — they typically congregate around Linode, Amazon EC2 and Slicehost services. They know exactly what OS and solution stack they want to use, their favorite kernel version and so on. [Continue reading …]

People: Chris Lea

Tagged as : Amazon, Backup, Django, Erlang, Hardware, LAMP, Linux, MediaTemple, Munin, nginx, Parallels, PHP, Plesk, Proxy, Rails, S3, Server, Software, Squid, Technology, Ubuntu, Varnish, VPS, Web Dev, Web Hosting, WordPress

42 comments

Atlanta to San Francisco: What I Learned Moving Cross-Country

May 25, 2010

Early last month I detailed my plans for moving to California for friends, a change of scenery and of course the acclaimed high-tech hub in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many have contacted me asking to share my experiences on what it is like to move cross-country — in particular to San Francisco — as [...]

Tagged as : Apartment Listings, Apartment Search, ATL, BART, bay area rapid transit, California, Caltrain, Comcast, Credit Report, FTTH, Google, Google Maps, iPhone, ISP, Lease, Life, Lombard, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area, SF Muni, SFO, Startups, studio apartments, Technology, TransLink, transportation in the san francisco bay area, Webpass, Zipcar

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