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Stephen Pickering

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  • How Much RAM do Rackspace Cloud Sites Have?

    selfp31213As I’ll no longer be able to run RackspaceReseller.com, (that was a dumb name anyway! I had just merely thought of it on a whim a couple years ago) because it uses the Rackspace trademarked name, I’ll be consolidating all my blogging on the subject here, which, you know, for my personality, may be a better thing. I get to feeling fragmented when I have my different interests sort of “sprayed” around on different domains. Then those domains get neglected, etc. etc.

    So today, I had a question come in from India about Cloud Sites. I get these questions often as I’m reselling what are now called “Sub-Accounts” within Cloud Sites (They used to be referred to as “Clients”)

    Anyway, as is typical, there is a great confusion in the marketplace between Cloud Sites and “Cloud Servers.”

    The question I had today was concerning RAM, random access memory, and this particular potential client was talking about 1.5-2GB of RAM. Well, immediately I knew that he should or probably would need “Cloud Servers” because I knew that the approximate or equivalent amount of RAM in Cloud Sites defaults to only 128MB (Although it can be raised to up to 512MB using the .htaccess file)

    Now, on Cloud Sites, this really refers to the amount of memory that PHP can access. But from my understanding with the live chat I just had with Rackspace, it’s a pretty close approximation to the amount of overall RAM that one might say a Cloud Site has access to.

    Cloud Servers are actually assigned a RAM number as you can see in this product description and offering page: http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/servers/techdetails/

    Whereas “Cloud Sites” are really not assigned a specific number for RAM, but they will tell you that the default on the PHP Memory value is 128MB.

    Well, I hope that clarifies this question. If there’s something I’ve gotten wrong and that I should be corrected about, please leave a comment below.

    If you are interested in purchasing a Sub-Account of Rackspace Cloud Sites, you can see my available plans and subscribe here: http://stephenpickering.com/rackspace-cloud-sites/

    Of course, before you decide on anything, I would suggest reading about Cloud Sites on their official page here: http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/sites/

    As always, if you have any questions call me: +1(501)291-1375 or email me: [email protected]

  • New Poem: A Natural

    “A Natural”

    I won’t say the things that I have to say,
    the feelings furrow all alone in the autumn mist,
    until you finally get up and walk away,
    and the chills that have eyes blow us their last, snowy, purpley kiss.

    I cascade over the heights of your frozen, mountaintop world.
    I skate upon your silky sweet, ice cream smile.
    Deep in the forest, they write, sleeps the world’s most beautiful girl.
    She awakens when you, inside yourself, find her missing child.

    This is the light where the world can’t come in.
    When we look into each other’s eyes what do we really see?
    Together, the holly from Gethsemene flows into the Jordan’s bend,
    feeding flowers opening brightly, resonating the mountain’s inner dream.

    I am the god of the sea,
    the fire in the rain spattering and splashing love.
    When I swim to the surface, you are released.
    When I dive to the bottom, you fly to heaven like a dove.

    We are caught between two worlds.
    I’ve seen your sails blow close to my shore.
    One here, the other holding my baby girl.
    Those eyes that shine, open at last, the secret, magical door.

    Something primordial says that “she is my wife.”
    But the harder I chase, the faster she runs away.
    We’re out here on the playing fields, the field of our life.
    And it’s only when I stop does she, a metaphor for something deeper, turn around and stay.

    When I  first saw her, it felt like I envisioned a ring
    that could bring back all of the things I’d ever loved.
    She’s the white buffalo maiden who sings atop Harney Peak,
    the princess in the snow marrying the sacred below with all that’s above.

    © 2013 Stephen Pickering
     

  • Why Netflix Inc (NFLX) Won’t Raise Prices and What Their Real Endgame Is.

    I don’t think Netflix is interested in raising their subscription price or tiered pricing. I think they look at the subscription like Magazines and Newspapers in the pre-digital days looked at subscriptions: a validation of intent and also to show the content creators the legitimacy of their audience. I think Netflix’s endgame is to become the “de-facto” global distribution network for digital motion pictures, tv, and entertainment. When that happens, then so many other options for revenue enhancement open up. Paid placement at the top of the page when you sign in, al lá “House of Cards,” for instance, and then also one can imagine theaters dying altogether, and Netflix being THE place the next big James Cameron or Ridley Scott release. That kind of thing is what I envision, and I think* that’s what they are shooting for.

    If one wants to dream hard, since we are on the heels of it, wouldn’t a Global audience paying a modest but fair price, not only sufficiently finance the Super Bowl, but perhaps bring the NFL even more money and exposure, in a more satisfying and efficient way for both the content creators and the audience?

    I think so.

    The CEO of Citigroup at Davos said that the main economic themes right now are Globalization, Digitization, and Urbanization. It would seem to me that a company like Netflix is not only the beneficiary of, but leading the charge in at least two of the three of those trends.

    Addendum: In Response to the article:  What if Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) Is Wrong? from InsiderMonkey.com

    I think it makes the medium better and more enduring overall. It can be consumed more like a novel. And if the medium is strengthened that gives more leverage and incentive to make a better product. At the end of the day I think it comes down to whether the show or movie is good or not. That’s the value proposition. What this is, is an innovation in the distribution proposition. All business comes down to two variables: Value + Distribution. This new model is, of course, aimed at greater viewer satisfaction, which of course leads to subscriber growth and more distribution leverage. But is also interesting to think how innovation in Distribution could possibly also affect, in a positive way, the quality, i.e. ‘value’, of the content, the product itself.

  • Why Netflix Will Become THE Global Distribution Channel for Filmed Art & Entertainment.

    House of Cards Promo(Editor’s note: I wrote this piece originally in response to this article from TheStreet.com:  Amazon vs. Netflix: Jeff Bezos Could Squash Reed Hastings Like a Bug)

    A) I’ve been an HBO subscriber since the 80’s, watched almost everything on it, and “House of Cards” is totally as good as anything that has ever been on HBO, better than most. (I’ve seen the first three episodes, and wait until you see Spacey’s mind blowing performance in #3). B) Netflix is not competing against Amazon, nor HBO. I’m a subscriber to Netflix and Amazon instant, and even together their cost is 1/10th of my DISH bill. And if HBO had a stand alone $10/mo app, I’d sub to it too, and my cost would still be way lower, but more importantly my value would be greater. Think about the power of that: Greater Value and Much Less Cost. Netflix is competing against cable & satellite TV. And they are going to crush them. C) It’s about distribution. Hollywood cares as much about distribution as it does cash money. Perhaps even more so. Netflix has 30 million subs and growing. How many “Instant” subs are there? 30 million people all seeing “House of Cards” promoted on the front page of Netflix. That’s powerful. How much is that worth? And it’s growing. And it’s Global. Being released Globally at the same time as its being released in the US. I think that is a first ever for any TV show or Motion Picture. That is very attractive to the best writers, actors, producers and directors. Netflix and it’s model are the future: Digitization, Globalization, and Urbanization, and their endgame is to be THE Global distribution channel of filmed digital arts and entertainment, and they will succeed. They’ve already entered escape velocity. 5 years from now they’ll have at least 100 million subs, but more likely closer to a quarter billion. And once again, it’s not the $8/mo from those subs that’s the real power. It’s the distribution and reach of the platform and brand.
    You see, at the end of the day, it’s all about distribution. Yahoo Finance gives you distribution for this article about Netflix. Google Finance doesn’t. Luckily, Finance is one category Yahoo does lead in. I leaned this from Dave McClure on Twitter: Business = Value + Distribution. There’s no question about Netflix’s value proposition. So, all these years it’s main focus of energy has been in building distribution, and now it has succeeded and will continue to grow massively.

  • New American Poem: Stay Composed

    “Stay Composed”

    There’s something so deep in my heart
    in each cell of me,
    swimming along this river of the night so dark,
    speaking to another century.

    I am the hand that swims through your sea
    for some missing piece of gold.
    I am the rose that blooms from your seed
    In a deep, hidden story that’s never been told.

    The infant child was born
    I try to put these things together piece by piece
    across the sea, on the yonder shore
    but they already exist together here inside of me

    This bed, the planets that are in our head,
    the love that we saw with our eyes but never said,
    are all made from the same substance, transcendent of time or place,
    that is neither alive nor dead.

    I’m Mercury, and your Venus,
    and that’s so, hermetically speaking,
    nothing ever comes between us.

    And sometimes it feels like, when we’re quiet like this, quietly Dancing with the moon
    that anything that we wish for, deep in our hearts,
    will come true.

    What’s inside this fly, what makes it go
    Is more information, more mystery than the whole world
    understands or knows.

    I can’t give you what you desire,
    And I can’t give you what you need.
    But I can take you to that place that is even higher
    Where, for the first time, you will finally see.

  • Michigan

    I recently made two different covers of the Josh Rouse song, “Michigan.” The first I made on the iPad with Garageband. I played the Spanish guitar and sang into the the little pinhole microphone. Then I added some “smart” instruments, bass, drums. So this one is done basically in “click” time, but I still think it came out sounding pretty good, considering the circumstances.

    The second was done with more Professional mics and into Logic Pro on an iMac. I basically just played a steel acoustic and sang at the same time, no overdubs or click track. So it’s live and more natural.

    So, two different sounds with the same song, but I kind of like them both for different reasons.

    Now, if I could only do some of my own songs!