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stories filed under: "downtime"
Too Much Free Time

Too Much Free Time

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
downtime, technology sabbath



Do You Need To Schedule Your Technology Down Time?

from the shut-down-and-go-outside dept

One of the best decisions I made when I first start blogging on Techdirt oh-so-many-years ago, was that I wouldn't blog on weekends. While it wasn't on purpose, it's worked out nicely as it gives me plenty of time on weekends to disconnect and do other stuff. I've found (surprising to some, I'm sure) that it's not at all difficult for me to pretty much ignore my computer for the weekend if I need to. And, then, there are some weekends where I do end up using the computer, either for fun or to catch up on some work-related things. However, I never considered setting up an official "schedule" of tech down time. Yet, Mark Glaser, over at MediaShift notes that a growing number of people are setting aside "tech sabbaths" to force themselves to disconnect. Interestingly, he even notes that it's often quite common for religious people, who observe a religious sabbath, to embrace this idea as well. I can see the point for folks who really have trouble disconnecting, but if it's not that big a deal, I would think that the situation should dictate how people act. If they have no pressing reason to be on the computer -- then don't use it. But that doesn't mean necessarily requiring it be out of your life for a specific time period.

14 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
(Mis)Uses of Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
downtime

Companies:
amazon



Apparently, Amazon Decided On A Long Weekend; Goes Down Again

from the life-on-the-amazon dept

While much of the focus on "uptime" today was over whether or not various web 2.0/tech sites could handle the onrush of traffic concerning the Steve Jobs/iPhone keynote, it appears that Amazon.com was actually stumbling and having trouble staying up just a few days after its still unexplained Friday meltdown. It's unclear if the two events are related, but given that Amazon is positioning itself to help keep other sites up and running, no matter what the situation, this isn't the sort of ringing endorsement it was probably looking for.

8 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Failures

Failures

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
downtime

Companies:
amazon



Amazon.com Taking The Day Off?

from the taking-a-breather dept

Around 10:30 am this morning, Amazon.com seemed to have disappeared from the internet, popping up a "Http/1.1 Service Unavailable" message, which suggests a rather catastrophic failure. The fact that it's been doing that for about an hour now, and there still hasn't even been a "sorry we're down" type message to replace it certainly can't be a good sign. Other parts of Amazon's business do appear to be working (I was able to login to my Amazon s3 account, for example), but still, this doesn't seem like the type of Friday that Amazon was probably expecting. Update: Amusingly, Amazon is referring to this as an "unplanned event." Why, that makes it sound fun!

28 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
(Mis)Uses of Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
downtime

Companies:
ebay, skype



Skype's Explanation For Downtime Not Ringing True

from the something's-missing-here dept

It took quite a while, but Skype was finally able to get its service back up and running after extended downtime last week. Monday morning, Skype posted an explanation of what happened, but it has many of us scratching our heads -- and many professionals questioning Skype and trying to match up the official explanation to reality. Skype officially blamed all the rebooting Windows computers due to Windows latest security patch. It must be nice to blame Microsoft, but it's hard to understand why that should be the problem. First of all, Microsoft security patch updates happen pretty regularly (normally once a month), often requiring the same reboot process. Why would this time suddenly be different than every time in the past? Skype doesn't explain that. Second, and much more importantly, the service crashed at 3am PT on Thursday morning. That's about 24 hours after most computers would be rebooting. Microsoft comes out with its patches on Tuesday, and most computers then do the reboot in the early hours of Wednesday morning, not Thursday morning.

20 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
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Thursday

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8:23am: ASCAP, BMI And SESAC Continue To Screw Over Most Songwriters: 'Write A Hit Song If You Want Money' (78)
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Wednesday

11:01pm: Oh Look, Some Police Do Know How To Use Craigslist As A Tool (8)
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6:40pm: Spain Says Broadband Is A Basic Right (12)
4:22pm: Entertainment Industry Wants More People To Know About OpenBitTorrent Tracker (25)
3:00pm: It's The TSA, Not CSI: Actions Limited To Security, Not Crime Investigation (25)
1:49pm: The More Innovative You Are, The More You Get Sued; Yet Another Patent Lawsuit Over Shazam (7)
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8:44am: Sony Pictures Having Its Best Box Office Year Ever... Still Blaming Piracy For Killing The Business (38)
7:30am: Jenzabar Finds 'Expert Witness' Who Will Claim Google Relies On Metatags, Despite Google Saying It Does Not (38)
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