RSS MAD

Movie/Wine/Song of the week [wk1]

Some explaining! This year I've decided to pick a movie, wine and song for every week. There will be a better place for this information (rather than in this blog) but for now - so I don't accidentally empty the brain's recycle bin, I thought I'd get it down in, err, bytes.

Movie: A Very Long Engagement (Un Long dimanche de fiancailles)
Unfortunately it's in french, but don't let that stop you from watching this cinematic masterpiece - a nice story, beautiful photography, some witty lines, and good actors await. You may find the beginning and some scenes surprisingly gory, but wait it out - it's really not about the gore.

Wine: La Vieille Ferme - Cotes du Ventoux
French movie? French wine! Of course there are far more french wines that I'm willing to drink than movies I'm willing to watch - but lets not ruin the plan here. This excellent and inexpensive wine is great - if you don't tell others it's price they'll think it worth more than you paid.

Song: Beatles vs. Diplo - Shake it Up (Diplo Mix)
There are tons of great songs for me to choose - 'cause I haven't done this yet, so I've decided to start the year with a happy, classic/remake that'll get the young and the old on the dance floor. I'm not sure there's an English-speaking person on the planet who doesn't know the song, the Diplo mix breaths new life into it

Roast your own coffee

The DIY Guide to Roasting Your Own Coffee!

Take some wind out of their sails

Some interesting technology is out there for providing free (wind) power to your home. About $8,500USD will get you a SkyStream3.7 which reportedly will produce 400KWh/month in 12mph/19kph winds. After 8 years this puppy's paid for itself, plus you have the satisfaction of not paying your local power company.

There's an even more interesting turbine coming (no specs, details, costs yet) called StormBlade which provides a jet-like turbine rather than the prop(ellar) kind... simpler, more efficient and quieter than it's prop cousins, this thing's sure to be a hit. Hopefully we'll see something concrete about it in the not to distant future.

20 CSS Tips

Good for any designers out there, these CSS tips are killer for whatever your next project is: CSS Techniques Roundup - 20 CSS Tips and Tricks.

New Years Resolutions

• Great achievements involve great risk
• When you lose or fail, don't lose the lesson
• Respect yourself, Respect others, be Responsible for your actions
• Not getting what you want is sometimes of great benefit
• Don't let a little dispute injure a great relationship
• When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it
• Spend some time alone every day
• Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values
• Silence is sometimes the best answer

The Postage Stamp Pain

I've blogged about this before, unfortunately in one of the "great harddrive crashes" from an IBM Deathstar drive (there where 3 in the end - it turns out it was the motherboards power supply) the blog got lost... but it's memory remains.

This year Canada Post has permanent stamps. Brilliant. I was appalled that Rick Mercer had the gall to mock this with his TV show, I enjoy his shows and his opinions mostly (although I'm not terribly interested in general politics) but when he mocked Canada Post for finally giving stamp buyers a break... well lets just say I felt anger. Later I decided he was probably (hopefully) just being devils advocate, and he probably did enjoy the benefit (not wasting time late January buying 1c stamps is a benefit to all - Canada Post included).

This is at least 14 years after Europe did the same: a stamp is a stamp is a stamp, it's not a paper representation of money. It's a paper receipt that a service has been paid for. That's the difference... I paid for a piece of mail to be delivered (already) so I don't want to have to revisit the post office (bad customer service and long lineups included) to have to supplement that payment because they've decided it's not enough.

Not only that... you're investing in the service up front... many don't use all the stamps for up to a year (1 piece of mail a month - now (apparently) sold in books of 12 = 1 year's supply). It seems small but if everyone (30million) spends $0.51 up front to be used in 12 months... with some good investment you could make $1.5 million in interest off that last stamp... it all adds up. I've given up on an out of date tamps beacause it's so time consuming to stand in line at the Post Office to get 1c stamps. I've found books of stamps from yesterear... I'm sure I'm not the only one. Unlike the dollar, it's not novel to find these retro stamps - they're useless! I think I even have some 45c stamps kicking around (6 cents off target).

I'm digressing...

Today I bought a book of stamps. I couldn't get a 10 pack (they didn't have) so I had to take a 12 pack. I assumed, given all the media coverage, that I'd be getting these new Permanent stamps... after sticking my stamps carefully on the 4 pieces of mail I had... I didn't see any discernible difference between these and the non-permanent type. I inquired with the Post office worker.

"Nope, those aren't the permanent"

So they'll need extra postage January 15th?

"That's right"

So what of these permanent stamps I've heard of?

"Oh well they don't come in books of 12"

... but I wanted a book of 10, and I would expect some kind of disclosure rather than you selling me the useless junk (they're the same price apparently) first and then telling me. As if I couldn't buy 10 not in a book (heaven forbid! or better yet just the 4 I need for now (since I'll be lining up again anyway).

So enjoy your Permanent stamps people... if you actually manage to get one out of the post office... I'll be (yet again) lining up for my favourite stamp: the 1 penny special.

Email Security, Productivity and Etiquette

Just like this article, I have to wonder why people don't know some of these simple and obvious email etiquette suggestions. Still it may not all be obvious... everyone has access to computers and emails but they don't all think about ramifications of what they are or are not doing. On the other hand we're all getting better as time goes along... gone are the days of those email lists where you could find up to a thousand email addresses listed for any spammer to harvest.

Hacking Email: 99 Email Security and Productivity Tips

EveryStockPhoto

EveryStockPhoto.com, this free pile of stock photos could be an excellent resource for your next poster/design. Just be warned, you may need release forms from models/building/logo owners included in the photos (if there are some). As creative commons files you don't need to worry about the photographer at least.

Watch Google Tech Talks

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=techtalks:: nuff said

Convert PDF files to Executables

PDF2EXE allows you to take a PDF file and convert it into an executable. In some ways this seems seriously dodgy (people opening EXEs in their email instead of PDFS).... but in many ways this could be extremely useful.

Why convert to EXE? Well first, anyone (in Windows) can open the file... no need for Adobe's bloated software (although you'll find plenty of alternatives out there). Better yet, in the conversion to EXE the programme gives you all sorts of extended options: Encryption, Password Protection, disable output to TXT, disable printing, disable conversion to image files, prevent modification, disable document properties. It's a free product, so give it a shot.

Mega Graphics tutorial list

Enough said, you need to read several of these Welcome to Photoshop, Corel, Xara, Painter and PSP Tutorials.

Disable F1-Help in Windows Explorer

If you use the F2 (rename) or ESC keys in explorer, you're probably well aware the F1 key brings on a painstaking loading process to show you a useless MS help centre. That we can do without. No fear, Hydrous has a fix... and it just effects explorer (F1 for help will still work in all your other apps)... ace.

1. You'll need dummy.exe... store it in C:WINDOWS
2. [Start]->Run->regedit
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows CurrentVersionApp PathsHELPCTR.EXE
4. Double click on "(Default}" and change the value to "C:WindowsDummy.exe" (no quotes)
5. Click [OK] and close the registry editor.

Colour Palette Generator

Colour Palette Generator
Give this w(eb)app an image URL and it'll give you the dull and the vibrant choices of colour. If you were repainting a room and you wanted to pull some colours from our favourite image this might just work... on the other hand you're going to have to worry about colour spaces and differences between tone on a monitor, camera, printer, and in paint. Cripes I hate colour spaces.

SLRGear

Next time you're trying to choose components for your SLR camera have a look at SLRGear.com for reviews, tips, and performance statistics on lenses and accessories.

Ext2/Ext3 from Windows

This beautiful piece of software allows you to access Ext2 and Ext3 filesystems from Windows (Ext2 Installable File System For Windows). This means your Linux partition is on longer only accessible from Windows. Perfect for retriving files you have stored there, or maybe even using the Ext2/3 filesystem for windows needs. Since this is a core piece, any application in windows will be able to use the drive.

Sync your google-calendar with your phone

If you have a Nokia, Motorolla, BlackBerry, or Sony-Erickson phone there's a good chance GCalSync can syncronise your google calendar to your phone... handy!

Community Loans

I find this both scary, and, well brilliant. Prosper.com is a website for two different types of people... those that need money, and those that have money to lend. As either party you state how much you're willing to pay/want in interest and you allow other users to bid for your money/to lend you money. Why should it just be banks and criminal organizations that loan money? There's a rating system built into the site to give you protection, and they're upfront about their rates for the users. If I have a spare pile-o-change maybe I'll try loaning it out :)

Cool Covers

Innovative display here... sure he's trying to sell you stuff, but what a great way to look at the selection CoverPop.com.

Top 10 Power foods

Top 10 Power foods... and some recipies and advice on how to cook/consume them :)

Create a grunge brush in photoshop

Creating grunge brushes ... an excellent tutorial on how to make that clinical photo look dirty, used, retro, and perhaps a little more interesting.

When to buy stuff

A very handy guide basically loaded with common sense, but with some surprises (and handily all written in the same article!). Read The Best Time to Buy Everything to find out how to pay less.

Never Ever Ship UPS to Canada

I recently purchased some goods from the US, only to be was reminded, in brutal clarity, why I should never accept anything shipped with UPS. The goods I purchased where probably 20% less expensive than my local store... a good enough difference I could assume the extra costs (duty, shipping, handling) will still make it worth while buying online. Boy, was I wrong.

First up the seller (northernlightfx.com)was poor at giving any kind of incentive for multiple purchases (this sadly after I'd already agreed to buy... most sellers are more than reasonable). Their claim; the 3 major items would have to ship in separate boxes (surprise! they turned up in combined boxes). On top of this, they're a seller steadfast in their use of the atrocious UPS where most sellers will offer an alternative (listed or otherwise) this one would not budge. I'm disappointed: their product line is great, prices are good, and service (outside of shipping) is fine... but I will never shop there again, and recommend no one else in Canada tries either.

So my packages are shipping for $60usd.... they're somewhat heavy (35lbs) and it's a fair distance, so while I fell this is expensive (that's half the cost of what I paid to ship 200lbs of stuff the same distance across the country and 1/6 of the weight) it's just in the acceptable range. If we translate into Canadian dollars that's $72 so far. My packages arrive in the same time as something shipped USPS from a similar distance (a North-Eastern state to South-Western Canada) something couriers are constantly claiming: they give better speed and service... why am I paying +$20usd to courier something that can move better/as well through the postal system? Still I'm ok with this... I can't expect things to be too outrageously fast (both came in good time). Two weeks after delivery however things start to go bad... I receive an invoice in the mail.

Couriers no longer bill you when they deliver packages under $1600... you just mail you a bill after. This removes all your rights to refuse their outrageous fees, and keeps you completely in the dark on what costs will eventually show up in an ugly envelope two weeks later (82 wasted cents of postage, why not just attach to the delivery package?). UPS sends me a bill for $65 and change. That's $20 of duty... and $45 for their pocket. They have various excuses for parts of it (and the 8+5 parts I basically except, but not the other 32). When asked to justify the costs, I get nothing. I've now paid $135 to get these items ($300 of goods)... that's 45% more than the original cost. Gone is my 20% savings (26% if you include taxes at a local store)... gone is the convenience of driving home with my new items, massively increased is my dislike of UPS.

Will I ever accept a UPS shipment again: never. I am appalled by their practices. They only hurt the private shippers, since all corporations have brokerage firms (an industry that no doubt exists solely from ridiculous fees by the couriers).

Do yourself a favour NEVER SHIP UPS.

And I'm not even getting into their bad delivery practices: 9-4 workdays only, only one pickup point in the whole city open till only 7pm workdays, takes 2 days to "re-route" a package within the city (when all the drivers have wireless computers that tell them what's going on in real time, so they don't need to "attempt delivery" when you called in 6 hours earlier to ask them to send it to your workplace because surprise! you work during business hours)

What you can take on a plane...

Sure it's an American list, but it's fairly safe to expect our guidelines to be close to theirs. Have a look at Permitted and Prohibited Items (Transportation Security Administration).

Adobe Illustrator

So you want to create a good looking graph, and you don't want to use Excel? I don't blame you! Check out Creating graphs at Bartelme design for a concise guide to creating them with illustrator.

Shoe Fitting Guide

It seems obvious, and yet it's full of useful information. I suppose, having never worked in a shoe store, it's not the sort of thing you'd know. Check out the blog-post Buy Shoes that Fit Every Time. You'll need this shoe-size conversion table too.

Add a map to a site

Using the blog-post How to add a Google Map to any web page in 30 seconds and the site WikiMapia you can add a google map of somewhere including controls in 30seconds. No developer account needed.!

Table Styles

Nice selection of CSS table styles (with loading on the page you're looking at) CSS Table gallery

Learn how to draw

Visit DrawSpace.com to learn many techniques on how to draw... this seems to be a huge resource covering lots of different areas.

10 tips on leading a balanced life

What an awesome blog entry (10 tips on leading a balanced life)... read this, and try and follow this... a more balanced life will follow (some effort required).

How to Become a Regular

I'm not sure this is a killer guide on How To become a Regular but it's a helpful set of etiquette for any restaurant dining. Obviously some of the rules can be skipped over if you're just looking for how to dine responsibly.

Recycle old books

BookMooch allows you to offer books you'd like to get rid of, and obtain books you'd like through an online community. It costs nothing to join, and nothing to trade, 'cept the cost of shipping. You receive points for what you put in, as long as you're sending one out for every two in you'll be fine.

Link Roundup

Windows XP 15 Minute Tune-Up
- Follow this and have a faster, brighter computer. Probably worth doing every 6 months or so on your computers.

How to setup a personal home Subversion server
- Allow yourself timely backups of files so that you don't loose them when you accidentally save a blank document over your 40 page thesis. A brief view of this guide suggests it's a bit technical for most... will report after trying. Roger roger.

Create ringtones for your cellphone

ToneThis allows you to create ringtons and wallpapers for your cellphone without paying your service provider exorbitant fees. Using your own audio files, and images from your PC, you can create a ringtone by selecting an audio file, the portion to extract and clicking go. You receive the tone/wallpaper as an SMS message (which may cost you).

Glasses for CVS (Computer Vision Syndrome)

Awesome Lockergnome posting about CVS today; Computer Glasses For Computer Vision Syndrome Sufferers. It would have been nice if these risks where known earlier... for many the damage is already done, but perhaps with some awareness now people can recover and/or stop making it worse.

I command you: Speak with confidence!

Speaking with confidence
10 Tips For Successful Public Speaking

London Design Museum (online)

If you're bored or interested in design... and those two in no way go together (honest millhop!)... then you might want to check out London Design Museum... full of great information, and great designs.

ScanR

This seems like quite a clever little idea... take a photo with a phone-cam, or digital camera, email it to these guys and get back a PDF with of what you caught. Be it a business card, document, or whiteboard shot. The samples of what it can do are impressive. I don't know how they can stay in business if they aren't charging, but *shrug* enjoy it while it lasts :)

ScanR

Being Called to the Bar

In Tom's own words, this is how getting called to the bar goes (roughly - a full report after the event)...

Routine should be something like this: someone talks about me/makes fun of me for about 10 minutes, judge talks about how great/important it is to be a lawyer for five minutes, and then I take some kind of oath about not being a lying slimebucket. Then presto I'm a lawyer.

Take over the world with Briefcase!

That briefcase thingy in Windows... it's still there. Guess what? I have a use for you! Create a briefcase (with the guide: Keep Your USB Drive Synchronized With Briefcase) and you'll be able to have a USB drive of information that you use on multiple stations. Bet most of you didn't even know what it was for!

Free Stuff! Use it on your website

Check out Wikimedia Commons for a pile of resources in... well... tons of categories, 700,000 items and growing try category:your-city to see what's already been contributed.

How much paint will you need?

Whether you're planning some elaborate prank, or considering repainting a room in your house, perhaps you'd like to have a clue how much paint you need? Look no further! Interior Paint Calculator

Get Rid of Adobe Reader Bloatware

Tired of the huge download that constantly checks back for updates and installs toolbars? Check out Foxit Reader for windows, a 1MB alternative, that seems to do everything Adobe can.

TripMates

This is a neat idea, a site that allows you to find other people making a trip to the same place around the same time as you... now you can meet up and slag how crap the place is. Or possibly just find someone understanding in an unfamiliar place. Check out TripMates.

Free stuff for web design

A link to another blog here, with a great list of free resources for web designers out there on a budget... or perhaps just looking to learn from others and what's out there. Have a look at Get free stuff for Web design.

In other news, there's a list of obvious, but handy tips in 20 Pro Tips... nothing should shock you here, but it's nice to reiterate (and remember).

Video Killed the Video Star

Lore Sjöberg is at it again with his thoughts and feelings (don't break it gently man) on the trend of lip syncing and generally being an idiot on camera to "become famous" (through YouTube and Google Video). Read this and reconsider that video of yours (that includes you Paris).

Debt Collectors and your Rights

You don't want to get into this situation, but if for some reason you're stuck there, this article (Debt Collection Practices: When Hardball Tactics Go Too Far) is an excellent resource (even in Canada) of what you're entitled to, what you can do, what they can do, and what they can't do. The advice taken as comon sense can actually be allied to any sort of dispute, or situation where it's possible it might get ugly. Hope you won't need this link, but if you do... well there it is.

Interview tips

Interview tips from an experienced recruiter, a handy (if somewhat obvious) guide on how to deal with things and what to do at an interview.

Free Virtual PCs

In an update to an earlier (toasted) post... all vendors are offering free Virtual PCs now:

• Microsoft Virtual PC 2004
• Xen 3.0 (OSS, not to be confused with Zen)
• VMWare Server (not as good as their best/pay product)

Performance wise you have two tiers:
OK: VMWare Server, MS Virtual PC
Good: Zen, VMWare ACE

How to Brew Cheap Wine

I find this strangely fascinating, while at the same time quite disturbing. Not sure if I'll ever get around to trying, perhaps tilley will give it a shot and let us know. How to Brew Cheap Wine.

Convert .bat or .vbs to .exe

A very handy trick! If you can't think of a use, don't read this guide... it seems you'll already have the programme though. How to Convert a .BAT file or .VBS file into .EXE to Enable Pinning to XP Start Menu.

ie for linux

Just like the man says, for those web designers out there, this application will allow you to test your app in IE without having to be running Windows on a box somewhere... it's a pretty great solution really. Support for versions 5, 5.5, 6. Check out IEs4Linux.

Collaboration made simple with Bracket Notation

So you want to edit someone elses article. Perhaps you've tried MS Word markup, or some other proprietary layout, and perhaps you haven't. This innovative suggestion creates a way for everyone to markup a piece of text... IM, Cell phone text, plain email, html, word, excel etc etc etc. It's usefulness is in it's simplicity, and according to one user it's used by the UN to markup documents.

Personally I agree with [ICR] that the rules and order: [Inserted Text^][#Scrubbed Text][@Comments] should be used... it allows you to skip the empty boxes when you don't need to remove, or when making a comment. We'll try implementing this over a few weeks and see how it works out :)

Collaboration made simple with Bracket Notation

There's no such thing as a one-hour meeting

I certainly agree with this article, meetings (especially for me) decrease my output for the day by a considerable amount. There's no such thing as the one-hour meeting.

SysInfo for your Tasklist cleaning needs

Next time you're not sure about what's running in your task list, or you want to limit what's automatically starting up, have a look at SysInfo.Org.

Your Green Dream

Seems like a great idea to me: Your Green Dream

"A free source of information on how to create your own homemade projects on solar, hydro, wind, tidal, geothermal or other green power. The site is designed to help and inspire hobby or starters with good easy to understand basic information about solar, wind, hydro electricity generating projects. It also allows you to communicate with others who are doing them same thing so you can avoid making those mistakes others make. And once you have the energy the best ways to use and store that energy, with batteries, electrolysis (hydrogen) and great low consumption products."

Build your own projector

Sure it's not amazing quality, but it could be fun for a various activites... have a look at DIY Projector. I'm thinking occasional use, additional effect that sort of thing :)

FCKEditor 2.3 and Opera 9

If you use FCKEditor or you have an application that comes with it embedded (Gnabgib software, FootSteps, DotNetNuke, LiveCity, Lemon CSS, FHM Online, etc) you should considering modifying your Integration script to allow the new Opera 9.0 to work with the editor (Opera finally supports - hurrah!)

No upgrade required (already detects 9.0)

All we've done is stopped ignoring all Opera users, and test to make sure they're using at least version 9.0 in order to show FCK Editor (just like MSIE and Gecko detection is setup). Similarly we can modify the ASP.NET, ColdFusion, Java and other scripts, I'll leave that up to you.

Send Big Files the easy way

This innovative peer to peer technology allows you to send files to others in a secured and simple manor. You both need to be running the software, but after that you email/IM them a delivery slip and they use that to download whatever the content is from you. Quite brilliant if you ask me. Check out Civil Netizen [Free]

Minti

Whether you're an experienced parent, a surprised parent, a new parent or an expecting parent, you're going to have questions and concerns. This online community (very web two point oh) provides just that... nicely laid out, tagged messages and discussions on all things parenting. Check out Minti.

Free MS Office Training

Sometimes you just need to know how to do one thing, so an 800 page reference book is overkill. Sometimes you just want to become better at an application because you just know there are better ways to go about using it. Either way, this online training area provided by Microsoft is very handy, check out Microsoft Office Training Homepage

Anti Chris' MiniMix (Annie Mac)

If you didn't listen to last week's "Rainbow show" on Annie Mac/Radio 1... well then you haven't heard creative radio DJing. But enough about that... this week's Minimix (a 5 minute mix of whatever you want) was by a listener... someone called Anti Chris. What a mix!

This person has a lot of talent. Hopefully someone will stream it off the radio so you can find it and listen to it yourself (once the radio show stops playing on Thursday). Perhaps if you combine this person with a chris they'll neutralize each other and release energy?

Annie Mac's Show [changes every Thursday at 1pm MST]
Annie Mac's Radio Site & Tracklisting.

Oracle reserved column name (words, keywords)

So you have a table with a column that uses a keyword for it's name (say: Precision). When you write a standard SQL statement to pull data from that column:

SELECT Precision
FROM my_tricky_table

...you'll get an error like...

ORA-00904: "PRECISION": invalid identifier

So what do you do? Escape the column name! Which should be easy, but it just took me 20 minutes of searching the web to discover how to do it...

To escape a column in Oracle you put double quotes around it (the error message gave a clue eh?) but !watchout! the column-name is now case sensitive. When the table was created the column (as I've listed above) is actually in it's own case (proper case in this case) rather than the default upper-case so often found in Oracle.

So our new select statement:

SELECT "Precision"
FROM my_tricky_table

Select a random DB row

MySQL

SELECT column FROM table
ORDER BY RAND()
LIMIT 1

PostgreSQL

SELECT column FROM table
ORDER BY RANDOM()
LIMIT 1

SQL Server

SELECT TOP 1 column FROM table
ORDER BY NEWID()

Oracle

SELECT column FROM
( SELECT column FROM table
ORDER BY dbms_random.value )
WHERE rownum = 1

Nonvolatile Memory Cards

Two years ago while buying my first Camera I bought a 512MB CF card (Ultra II) for $110 (this was a huge deal, since the prices had just dropped from $200). Six months ago (November 2005) I bought a 1GB SD card (133x) for $100. The SD typically cost more money than the CF cards, so again this is a big breakthrough. Two weeks ago (April 2006) I bought a 2GB SD card (133x OCZ) for $60! What a price curve! The size has doubled each time and the costs are coming down. It's a golden age of digital stuff (PDA's, Pocket PC's, Digital Cameras, MP3 players).

Just be careful where you buy... the big mall-electronics stores are slower to decrease their prices with the manufacturer trends, whereas the smaller (often more daunting to the un-initiated) computer part suppliers stay with the good prices... that means you can pay twice what you should be at retailers.

King Kong

After reading a ton on Wired.com about this, I finally got to see the movie over the weekend. I knew it was a long movie, so I actually started watching it earlier than normal. Did I complete it in one night? Nope.

Only 30 minutes didn't make it into my first viewing, and certainly the majority of the movie had happened (the last 30 minutes are obvious if you know the storyline). I enjoyed the movie overall, but I've gotta say it was too long. It told a story, and it did a very good jobs, but there were parts (the bug scene, the dinosaur scene) that where too long and/or needless. Nice idea, but what's the point (you're thinking).

...sorry I'm doing my best not to spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it..

Watch it if you're interested, it certainly has some action... early in the movie you're heart might fail (later you'll just notice how stupid things are). Peter Jackson wove a sad story this time. I think it's better that way.

Opera Tweaks

Right from the horses mouth: Opera6.ini settings explained. This page gives you clues on how to change settings that aren't tweakable through the Opera UI. Some handy entries in this file!

Automatic scaling of Base Font (1em=15px everywhere)

This excellent script allows you to set a page's base font through javascript alone. No CSS hacks, and finally cross-browser compatibility on your site design (fix the px size of the base font for all browsers). Check out Demonstration Page for ASBF.

From Maxthon back to Opera

A while ago... 6 months, a year I'm not sure... the Opera client I was using in one of my environments started to hang basically every minute. This, I found, greatly frustrating, and after exploring my options, I discovered there wasn't much that could be done about it. Some other people on the net had the same issues, but no one had a solution. A new version of Opera might fix (none were available at the time) but we'd have to wait and see.

So off I went to find another browser. Maxthon was what I basically settled on. This IE based browser provided tabbed browsing (a must once you've got hooked on it) and even had some nice features (ad blocking how much I love thee) so I've been fairly happy with the switch. I've upgraded a couple of times over the months (now at version 1.5.2). Lately, however I've been noticing just how much of a resource hog Maxthon is... not just memory (where it actually appeared to be better than Opera) but also processor. Not to mention the resources it uses when it's minimized (too many as far as I'm concerned). The specific issue: with 10 tabs open, even with the window minimized the process would take up 100% of the processor (as close as it could get) and sometimes not release... other times just run on a cycle.

This, I feel, isn't acceptable.

So here I am again, it's plenty of releases later Opera is now up to 8.54 and works smoothly on my computer. The memory usuage is the same or lower than Maxthon (for the exact same sites), the CPU usage is considerably less and it's stable (no freezing/crashing). Best of all some of my favourite features with respect to web forms are back (on a drop down you can type an option in and it'll move to it, rather than every keypress being interpreted as the first letter of what you're looking for / a form's content is locally stored so if you go off somewhere by accident you can always go back and not have lost your entries).

I can also safely say the browser loads fast, loads sites faster, and is much smarter over data display. Take IMP by Horde... when you page through your mailbox the whole screen doesn't blink and reload... just the rows showing your mail update... it makes it feel much more like an application than what we've traditionally called a "website". Brilliant!

Go download and enjoy.

PageRank

This online resource allows you to see the page rank of all the links on a page: PR Overlay. There's also a Firefox extension for those who use them.

Charles

Charles
"Charles is an HTTP proxy / HTTP monitor / Reverse Proxy that enables a developer to view all of the HTTP traffic between their machine and the Internet. This includes requests, responses and the HTTP headers (which contain the cookies and caching information).

"Charles can act as a man-in-the-middle for HTTP/SSL communication, enabling you to debug the content of your HTTPS sessions.

"Charles simulates modem speeds by effectively throttling your bandwidth and introducing latency, so that you can experience an entire website as a modem user might (bandwidth simulator)."

Sounds like an excellent tool for getting your AJAX based system to play nice when you're not absolutely sure what's doing bye... also handy for checking on those sites where you're not quite sure what they're doing. It it an AJAX call or a javascript execution that updates that State/Province list?

Mmm prototyping

Who doesn't like tiny electrical devices that are a bitch to get going, and end up looking terrible but performing something that only the creater founds amazing? On that note, check out Spark Fun a source of tons of tiny little brilliant electronics (some assembly required!). Man I could have done with this during my final design project :|

Sustainable Design for Living

Came across this awesome shopping site today: Branch. You've gotta check out their products... they have some beautiful, amazing and creative things. My picks... well there's a glass Ice Bucket that looks like melted ice (Tabletop->Rocks Ice Bucket), there's a vase that looks like glass cubs cobbled together (Tabletop -> Qbert Vase), there's everything in the Furniture section (bit pricey). Perhaps the coolest (and most economical) is the "in a Can" series (Garden -> * in a Can), which includes Bonsai, Cactus, Clover, Christmas Tree and Praire in a Can... what a nice way to add a little green!

Top 10 CSS Tutorials

Cameron Olthuis has put together a pretty great list of Top 10 CSS Tutorials. Not all are strictly tutorials (some are examples, others are tutorial sites) but you can bet with this list you can pretty much create anything in CSS. Brilliant!

Roll up the rim: the crowds die off

For at least the last week, the Tim Horton's crowds have been subsiding. Yesterday going at 10 (what used to be the worst time) it was only a 10 person line we were in before getting coffee! They've run out of large cups, but unlike some of the other dumb franchise locations, they'll give you a large coffee, but double cup it with a regular roller on the outside. Brilliant! You still get all the coffee you want and you still get the rolling thrill.

I actually stopped counting somewhere in there, but my wins come to 3 coffees, and one doughnut, and all this over approximately 90 cups. Not the best odds or achievement... by their own admission I should have had 10 wins in that time. Don't know how they can claim such odds if people don't actually get them :|

Back to my normal coffeeing habits, which will still include trips to TH now and then... perhaps a doughnut here and there too! :)

Elevator Pitch

I can see this site getting out of hand, but the underlying idea of Your Elevator Pitch is pretty decent... write out your idea in a concise pitch and have it critiqued by others.

Evian

In this highly praised animated spot, a drop of water with a personality of its own climbs out of a glass. To the Queen song "We Will Rock You", the watery sprite enjoys a series of adventures

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/06037.htm

Roll up the rim, don't win, but come back?

Word to Peter Dowling and his Rim rolling ways... if he's the most unlucky person in the world (no wins in 20), what does that make me with my first win at 40 (a coffee), and second at 60ish (a doughnut). Next year I'm buyin' a barbecue, a bag of expensive coffee, a few litres of milk and I'm brewing my own coffee for two months... 80*$1.50 makes my budget for this $120... it'll be a cheap BBQ, but at least I'll be a winner.

Hnefatafl

It sounds like a sneeze, but it's a very old (and fun) game... try out Hnefatafl. You will need two players (no computer player).

TH Update

43 coffees at Tim Hortons, 1 win (a coffee). This is a bad year for me. Worse yet I've noticed the cups plainly state 1:9 odds of winning... in two more cups I'm doing five times worse than that (1:9=5:45). Hrrmm.

WARDK

An interesting article on what someone's looking for in a Web Application Rapid Development Kit: What Do I Really Want from a Web Application Rapid Development Kit. Some excellent points.

AJAX

AJAX continues to grow as a web technology (and as someone who's build an app with it, it's going to change the way we think about working with applications on the web)... now it has a website at AJAX Impact.

*drool*

Dell days of deals are still on, and today they have their 30" LCD monitor on sale.

Mmm 30" of desktop realestate... 2560x1600 pixels arragagagah. Price is high, but then I think it's fairly new. In a year perhaps it'll be more reasonable... as the owner of a Dell monitor, I can definitely get behind their quality, build and performance (at least of the wide/ultrasharp series, ie. the expensive one). I just wonder what a 30" wide-screen panel would look like on a computer :) Would work very nicely with a PVR or DVR as a TV setup (with far better than HD resolution).

Lisa J. Pavenston

You heard me!

... she was integral in the development of the UltraSolve Online Assistant.

PictureCloud

Make a fun little 360 view of something using the PictureCloud website and some creative photography. The results aren't even close to amazing (at least not what I had in mind in my head) but it's still pretty neat to see the 3D spinning around some object. How many beer bottles are going to be rendered I wonder.

The elevator of death

Oh wait, that title sounds a little more worrisome than it should... after all I'm alive to write this blog.

I've been coming to work a little earlier recently, which apparently puts me in a far worse situation with the elevator in waiting times, and travel times. Last Sunday, for example, the 15 minutes it should have taken me in total to travel to my nearby breakfast establishment of choice, was used entirely up waiting for an elevator in my building. It's frustrating as you can never really predict when they'll be bad: on the weekends they are, but earlier in the day people typically aren't using them yet (at least that's what I'd found).

Well anyway, we're talking about today. Wednesday.

So first problem... two total moron's are already in the elevator. Beginners mistake? I think not... the one guy has been in there every time this week... every time he presses the up and down buttons, I get him with him already there and all the buttons off (the elevators don't like people trying to go down when it's trying to go up either)... every day we stop on the 35th floor and look out at the corridor that he should be standing in. Today there was two of them, I think they're probably both from the same floor, although they weren't talking or standing together (quite the opposite... perhaps they're married?)

This is a retarded practice... if everyone does that you half the speed of the elevator making the problem even worse, press the button you want for the direction you want and wait it out like the rest of civilized society. Well anyway... there's stop number 1 (their floor, no one joins us)... we then proceed to have 16 more stops on the way down. Towards the end we stop on almost every floor... which is awesome when you consider it takes far longer to wait for an elevator on -even the 7th floor- then to walk down the stairs.

I should point out the elevator can only take 12 people max (according to it's own claims), and is full after 8 sensibly, and 10 in a stupid squeeze. To not programme the elevator to ignore floors after 12 stops (or even better - measure the weight inside and not stop after a certain limit since more than one person can get on at a floor! Amazing!) just slows the whole process down. We the incredibly full elevator have a really long end of the trip stopping on all these floors to look out at the people in a lovely spacious corridor who cannot cram in, they the tired of waiting people have to wait for an elevator, watch it go by, then press the button and wait again, and it the next elevator has probably gone off to do something else (like start high up and pickup tons more passengers).

Sure elevator programming isn't a cake walk, but there is some logic that they should use when setting these things up. I wonder if there are really smart elevators out there, and if anyone even notices when they ride them.

20 Rules Of Smart And Successful Web-development

Check out the whole article... if you're in a rush the suggested rules are:

1. Respect your visitors
2. Bad advertisement is evil
3. Inform and teach your visitors
4. Develop your own style. Develop your own ideas
5. Respect the standards. Think about people
6. Be clear. Use a clear markup
7. Hate Internet Explorer if you like, but don’t ignore its users
8. Care about your content
9. Don’t be concerned about web-crawlers and SEO optimization (Avoid wrong SEO and bad PR)
10. Contact, but don’t spam
11. Write, publish, feel free to ask
12. Answer your e-mails immediately
13. Use the advantages of Semantic Web
14. Make connections
15. Think in global terms
16. Never compromise your principles
17. Stay in touch
18. Learn to handle the creativity block
19. Make Web prettier
20. Be aware of the Power of the Web

A score of losers (TH)

20 cups of not winning at The Tim of the Horton's. I had the luck of the Irish with me today too... my Guinness shirt is getting some attention, although I'm a little uncomfortable that it's from guys.

Dell Canada's 12 Days of Deals.

Only just thought of blogging about this, if you're in Canada, and looking for a deal something watch 12 days of deals on Dell.Ca to see if anything takes your fancy. Typically there's one of everything on sale on one day or another, I picked up my monitor during the promotion (LCD's are on sale today). This is day two, sorry about the delayed posting!

Update (sore rolling thumbs)

For those on the edge of their seat as to whether I've found myself a prize under the rim of a cup... everything is not coming up Millhouse. I'm approaching 20 cups purchased from good ol' Horton's, all yielding the same prize: please pay again.

*sigh*

Lunar Eclipse Calculator

Have a laugh an figure out if you can see the next of several Lunar Eclipses with the Lunar Eclipse Computer. I required the Latitude and Longitude of U.S. and Canadian Cities page to help me figure out where I was for the "locations worldwide" section. :)

Office 2007

If you've got anything above Office 97, you probably won't even consider upgrading. Even Office 97 provides more than enough abilities for the majority of users out there. On the other hand if you're interested on what is coming up in Microsoft's Office products, check out the Office blog. Today it includes some screen shots... they're really shaking up the GUI. While such a change is a huge step and will no doubt confuse some users, I think the new GUI looks more intuitive so in the long run it's a good change.

TH tricks me again

I might have accidentally had a coffee over the weekend... but don't all your prize winners worry, I haven't consumed any of your cups. 2 more cups: 0 more prizes. As someone who's been consistently visiting Tim Horton's all year (not just during this promotion like masses of the visitors) I'm feeling a little... forsaken by the TDL Group Corp.

Roll up the rim, or don't

February 27th spelled the start of Tim Horton's promotion to roll up the rim and win. Naturally being the sucker for coffee that I am, and looking for the thrill of vegas pursuant to said caffeine consumption... I may steer out of my way to procure coffee from the aforementioned establishment.

(I buy more coffee from Tims because of the promotion.)

But during the consumption of no less than 9 cups of Tim Horton's beverages not one winner has been found. In Calgary a cuppa will cost you $1.50 so I've so far sunk $13.50 into Tim Horton's all so some undeserving people in Quebec can bicker. Strictly speaking it's a little less than $13.50 since some were (unsteeped!) tea which present a slight saving over coffee.

Am I happy about this? Of course not. Do I love the increased lines and poorer service I experience at Tim Horton's during this phase? Well who wouldn't.

And so this blogger has made a decision: no more out of the way trips to Tim Hortons. I won't stop drinking coffee, but I'm not gonna trek over to TH without a good reason, and I'll certainly consider tastier more local coffee establishments for my work day caffeine consumption.

You Can Play With Your Food

You Can Play With Your Food by Lore Sjöberg (Wired.com)... a hilarious view at tantalizing new foods out there. I can see the paintable cupcakes coming in handy for subliminal messages for your coworkers/ enemies/ other drivers/ loved ones.

Morons Waiting for Buses

Public transit is a brilliant idea, far less expensive than driving yourself, and much better for the environment, but somehow it just lacks the "classiness" or driving yourself (frankly I loved that I could read and listen to some music while someone else drove me to/from work, but not everyone on the transit was of good character... you just ignore those types).

When I first moved here (got of the banana boat as they say) I was mocked, and quizzed as to whether "people in Britain really line up to get on a bus". "Well Yeah", I said... like this was blindingly obvious. Then I took the bus home. It's not really that there's a chance you won't all fit, more that you really want to get on before everyone else. Any amount of indirect pushing (being pushed by others: wasn't my fault), tripping, hair pulling, groinal injuring and reverse psychology is fair game in the quest to be the first few (the chosen). I'm not even certain why... one time in maybe 50 the last few people would have to wait for the dreaded "second bus" which was 5 minutes later. These days I never leave at the second my time is up.

But that's how to get on the bus, the real topic of this blog is why people waiting for a bus are so retarded, thoughtless, moron or sheep-like. Not me of course, but everyone else. Depending on my route to work I may have to walk by a bus stop or two. If I'm lucky the transit riders have alighted their preferred transit vehicle and I can freely walk down the side walk.

Sidewalk
n.
A paved walkway along the side of a street.

walkway
n.
A passage or path for walking.

Ah Ha! Already, I've lost the bus riders. A sidewalk is a paved pathway for me to walk down! See how it doesn't mention them standing on it? But I'm not fussy, I'm happy for them to use my paved side walk to stand and wait for their bus. What I'm not happy about is the people equally distribute themselves across the width, and a considerable length of the sidewalk, creating a human barrier bus waiters. The transit commission has aided their blocking practices by putting up a sign on one side, and a bench on the other side of walkway, taking the pass-through width down to the absolute minimum it can (probably) legally be... which wouldn't be in the slightest be a problem if no one stood in it. But that's the first place they stand.

So any time I have to muscle through a transit desiring crowd, I have to swing my bag like a morning star, and put some weight behind my shoulder as I break through. I have not a care for these people who think they're the only ones in the world, nor do I look back when I'm sure I've woken some of them up and they realised they're in a 1990's simulation of life and machines are harvesting them for electricity.

The thoughtlessness of some people... but then that's what I blogged about yesterday, isn't it?

If you catch the bus, and moronically stand to block a sidewalk, or someone else comes along and closes the sidewalk, but your moving could open the sidewalk please think about everyone who shock! horror! doesn't need to catch your bus.

Go on, say something nice!

As an event planner and executer, I try and find my own reasons for doing the work, but just sometimes it's nice to get some positive feedback from those who benefit. Naturally the majority of the time a complaint is the only feedback you'll . You can run an event for 700 people, and you'll get the 10 people that didn't like the time, the place, the atmosphere, the choice of food or drink, the content, or just got out of the wrong side of the bed.

Of course what a planner should do at this point is think... well that's 690 happy customers. But no, instead you think of those complaints. You fear when planning a event what complaints you might get, and you end up planning an event, not on merit but on how to minimize the bitching. Why is it that we're eager to express displeasure or shoot our mouth of about "improvements" but we feel it's obvious or unnecessary to thank those that have put an event together on our behalves?

Now you could argue a payed planner is just performing their tasks, and rarely does anyone actually get recognition (a thank you) for their work (except those in the service industry I suppose)... but it's rarely that cut and dry. Perhaps you're going above and beyond what you're paid for, perhaps you pulled some personal strings to get the event running. Perhaps (and I'm certain this is the case on all but the most basic events) you put in more time and effort than you were paid and/or expected to just to make the event that little bit better.

And that's just the paid planners, those of use who toil for the "pleasure" of it... or whatever we tell ourselves (aka volunteers).. should really be barraged with compliments, thank yous and well wishes. Instead, whether you're paid or not, all you can expect back from the benefactors is no news (good news) or complaints.

So next time you go to an event that you know someone had to organize find the organizer (if they're known to you) and say thank-you. Better yet, write them a little email saying thank-you and pick out something particularly you enjoyed/noticed really contributed to the event (who doesn't like some detail they put effort into being noticed?). Overkill, but certainly welcome, you could (hand) write a thank you note for he/she/them. The world would be just a little bit better if you got some positive feedback for a good event, rather than not getting negative feedback.

Fire Alarms Suck

Today, perhaps as a result of Valentines day yesterday, mayhap in spite of it, I've been subjected to two fire alarms.

The ones at work... they're annoying and boring. We were having a meeting at the time and we just carried on, we just do what we're told (please stand by for further instructions). It's not like we get many alarms at work though so it's not a huge deal.

At home though, when the alarm goes off you always start thinking of all your stuff... what do I try and save? What if what if what if. Again we're supposed to wait while the annoying alarm drones away, until we get instructions (apparently over a PA system that's built in to the alarm system). Tonight it's not such a big deal (only 7pm) but with a balmy -10 and driving snow outside, no one wants to consider evacuation. Last time it went off it was late (1am) on a Sunday night... I'd already fallen asleep (quite a feat for a Sunday when you can never quite get to sleep when you want to) and was promptly woken up by the alarm. My roommate -ever the night owl- was still up and not delirious like me worked as a very good calm base to work from. After a few minutes (15 at least) the alarm went off, and I -full of adrenalin- went back to bed. I wasn't too awake on Monday.

Current Web Styles.

A bench mark for the design trends of 2006, this article (Current Web Style) lists some well designed sites and points out the new features/consistent themes across them. Required reading for all web designers out there.

New Media Picks

These aren't my picks, but rather Robin Good's excellent selection of New Media Pics for 5-feb-2006. Noteworthy includes...

MailBigFile.com
Send up to a 1GB file to someone without actually putting it in an email. Allows up to 3 downloads within 7 days. Very handy for moving big things around (Tilley)

Whonu (beta)
I'm not entirely sold on this idea, but it's a search engine that allows you to dictate what to search (including types of media for example RSS feeds). Possibly the best part of this is the ability to save the search as an RSS feed... a clever enough search would make this a powerful listing/reference tool.

Rasterbator
Apart from making me snicker at the name, this awesome webapp allows you to take an image... any image (photo, scan, self created art) and blow it up into epic proportions. By using scaled circular dots rather like news print, the final effect is not a horribly blocky image, but a stylized version of your original. But don't worry, it doesn't use massive printers... the results are spread over a series of standard sheets of paper... print it on any desktop printer and then assemble afterward. (Some frustration will of course ensure).

Cycle to work and pay

While attempting to come up with a witty slogan for this entry I had to ponder several things (already I digress here). The search-ability based on keywords, whether it would fit in my default font, and whether it would make enough sense for someone to want to read the entry. Well that's what I came up with. The End.

... well ok, not really...

Our town has one of the best cyclepath setups in North America, at least I think that was the claim I've heard. Sure, there are all sorts of outrageous claims (we invented the question mark, the Caesar, and Ginger Beef), but I've cycled on the paths here, and I've gotta admit... I love'm. Plus I can plan a trips all over town and stay on the paths. Not just a bike lane (although frankly, who doesn't love sucking the exhaust of vehicles while pedaling) but separate paths often with more direct, and certainly more scenic routes than the cars get.

While it may get to -40c (last winter) on some days, the majority of the time it's not *that* bad... and with proper clothing even -20c is workable (I'm told... I'm without proper clothing so I stop around 0c). You may think snow is a factor, but the primary routes to downtown are in fact plowed. That's right! While some side streets don't get cleared all winter, a selection of cycle paths are kept clear. This facilitates: "cycling to work".

10-20kms a direction is easily done, and with traffic the way it is, it's often quicker than public transit or driving yourself (no one seems to carpool in our fair city). Not only that, but imagine the satisfaction when you get home of having completed work and exercise for the day! Now there are a few days where you just don't want to have get on your bike after work... but they aren't that common (if you accept it as "just something you have to do"), and come on, you can always just cycle a little slower and look at the scenery.

But, it's no all about the environmental, personal, and chronological benefits. You get to work... in the v jungle, and you need somewhere to put your penny farthing. Surely the bike racks found in front of most buildings would work? No! A lot of them say "for couriers only" (you know those crazy cyclists who do it for a living and never follow signals/laws/safety/physics). Usually there's some sort of cage setup in the building... often in a stupid place (under ground, 3 levels down, beside the furnace) but it turns out cycling's rather popular and many of these have waiting lists.

Not only that but how secure can it be? I mean sure it's a "secured area" but it's also far out of sight of the public for the day (albeit with cameras watching). You have that $3000 lightweight bike that can let you go 25% faster, but do you really want to risk having it disappear during the day? So you have a second "commuter bike". This heavy, ugly, cheap piece of metal you end up putting 80% of your kms on... but at least you've minimized the risk.

Next we have the issue of clothing. You can only carry so much on a bike, and work clothes tend to have wrinkle requirements (that is, they're not allowed). But it's worse... you can't just change clothes there in the middle of the cage, and even if you could... what of the byproduct of your exercise: the sweat glistening on your forehead (and perhaps some other places). I'll tell you what I'll do as a massive company: I'll suggest you join an overpriced, far too busy gym downtown with bad hours (if you don't want to work out during the work week) just so you can have a changing room and a shower so you can sit down at your desk as a human.

Does that seem right? Companies encourage exercise, and -no doubt- would love to claim 20% of their employees cycle, walk or 'blade as their primary form of commuting... but they don't provide any resources to their employees. You get coffee in the coffee room, photocopiers that aren't too fussy about what you're copying, stationary that isn't 100% monitored and internet on your desktop, but you can't have somewhere easily accessible and safe to put your bike, nor can there be some showers so you can cleanup and change before you start work.

This, does not seem right. It's not like in the grand scheme of things installing showers somewhere is that expensive, nor that the cleaning of them would cost much more (than a tower with 80 washrooms in it), and while parking isn't provided as a company benefit, surely bike bins (simple boxes with mechanisms that can be locked but don't allow anyone to see what's inside) wouldn't be that expensive to install. Perhaps these heathy types wouldn't object to paying $20 a month to be guaranteed a place to store their bike during the day.

WAP/WML

WAP Emulator perfect for that upcoming WAP/WML project... no need to crunch up cell phone time seeing how things look.

Darkness!

As I read technical specs I am, for a change, plunged into darkness by my energy saving lights. I feel I should hug a tree and apologize.

Battlestar Galactica Season 2

For some stupid reason, up here in the great white north we had to wait 4 months to start watching Battlestar Galactica season 2. Meanwhile in the US they've seen the whole season, and indeed it's already been released on DVD (mid December). I don't know how, but they've managed to prevent release of the DVD in Canada, such that any store you try and find it in will say "out of stock" or "not yet available" or "on order". I suppose that makes sense... I certainly wasn't going to watch the TV series when I can just buy the DVD (which I'll want to do anyway) and enjoy the episodes at my own pace.

The new season - which I finally caught an episode from last night - is awesome. With the same power and intensity as the last season, twice the show was so ladden with legitimate emotion I completely forgot I was watching TV and not inside the plot. Kudo's to the makers for not dropping the ball on an excellent series. Now just let me buy the damn DVD so I can enjoy the first couple of episodes I missed (and perhaps 5.1 surround).

Zip.ca forsakes us

Today I read an email from Zip.ca telling me that rather than their current model, something I've enjoyed for 4 months now, they're going to start charging for movies beyond a threshold (to cover the cost of shipping and handling).

I'm not happy with this.

I suppose when I signed up I assumed this couldn't last forever (at $0.50/direction so $1 a round trip payed to Canada post, how can it be profitable to charge $25/mn and have me rent 20 movies?) but I'm still unimpressed that while Netflix continues to dominate in the US, Zip is already change it's plans to offer an inferior service in Canada.

I did some research on this today, and it looks like Zip is the main dvd-mail renter in Canada. Lots of people have had issues with customer service bad, or missing DVDs, but I've certainly had none of that. The only thing I could say about the service is I have a large Zip List (140 items?) so I don't necessarily get the next movies I'd like to see on the list... there's an ASAP setting which seems to do nothing and the order I add them doesn't seem to help much either. Still I don't mind too much about that, if the movie is in my list then obviously I want to watch it! Sometimes when its a hot new movie that everyone's talking about I'm a bit frustrated to be waiting and waiting for the movie to show up.

I guess the thing that urkes me most is their fee for additional movies beyond your limit (on a 4 DVD at a time plan you get 11 a month) is $2.50. Why not make the fee reasonable... $1.25 which would cover the cost of the stamps and envelopes. That way you're covering the cost of the shipping... what is apparently causing you issues now, and as a consume you can take the extra cost... it's just the same as buying a few stamps!

There are several other ways they could improve their service (providing an API and tools so developers could make neat extensions, or individuals could list their zip list on their personal website etc) but up until now I've been happy with what i was getting. The question is do I drop the service now with the limit I'm bound to hit?

Intersting discussion: Netflix in Canada

CSS Blog

There's a new CSS resource out there called SkimCSS a blog about... CSS. This is an excellent resource for anyone trying to understand the intricacies of the web and CSS.

Chili

Last night, for the first time ever, I attempted to make Chili. Turns out I didn't do so bad. It as an interesting experiment in creative cooking. While I've eaten plenty of the stuff, I've never before made it... there's been someone else with such skills around who'd make it. Yesterday I finally broke down and tried it myself. I included beef, tomato sauce, diced tomatos, onions, celery, kidney beans, mushrooms, parsnips (surprisingly good), green pepper, black pepper, chili peppers (2 large, 6 small), chili powder, cayenne pepper and cajun spice.

Will I be able to make it the same again? Probably not, but as someone pointed out to me: the beauty of chili is it's never the same twice.

web 2.0

Much has been said about the web 2.0, and I'm sure much will be said, but this website of mashups has some pretty neat examples of where the web is going. Possibly nowhere useful, but definitely somewhere interesting.

AJAX Login

This awesome article explains how to setup an AJAX based login system... very useful: AJAX Login System.

Demo Builder

For a limited time Demo Builder is available for $199 instead of $399 (until the end of January). Have a look at the website for examples of what you can produce and a free 15 trail so you can see if it's the right product for you.

How to convert AVI to Flash

There comes a point when it's handy to be able to embed that funny video into a webpage, not just have a popup or download available for users. There are several products out there to perform such a task, Jake Ludington makes a recommendation, and gives a step by step guide on how to convert AVI to Flash. (Recommended software: Flash Video Studio $49)

Ten websites of 2005

Not my list, but a collection of amazing websites for 2005. This Jim Regan article has some excellent selections: Ten websites you shouldn't miss.

Depressingly Dark

The place I work supports and encourages flex time. For those who don't know what that means... it comes down to this: work your 40 hours a week however you want. It doesn't support telecommuting, so you have to be in the office for those 40 hours, but how you want to make them up is up to you. Naturally there are some people in support positions that are expected to spend a core of hours in the office, and you can't just skip meetings during the work day, but for most this means you can start and end what whatever time suites you.

For me that typically means coming in somewhere around 8:30. While my commute is just a short walk, I'm not much of a morning person and I find it a fair bit easier to come in then. This week, however, I've had lots to do in the evenings so I've been coming to work between 7:30 and 8. The difference is epic.

I'm not sure the sun is technically up by 8:30 (every day it changes of course) but the sky is starting to get quite bright, and in a few weeks it'll actually be brilliant orange while I go to work. What I've had this week, however, is darkness/very low light. Sure there can be light at the end of the day if you leave early enough, and light at lunch if you go outside, but somehow morning light seems most important.

I'm lucky to have this Flex time... to not have to worry about when I get in, and to allow my body to follow a preferable time table... probably makes a huge difference psychologically, certainly this week I feel like I'm at work all the time with the low light to and from work.

Eberts Film picks 2005

Here have the 10 best movies of 2005, Jury Prizes, Special Jury Prizes, Best Documentaries, Best Animated Films and some overlooked greats. I was a bit shocked to see some of the movies I've rented this year were so new (I rarely check the date), but mostly I'm astonished at how many I don't recognize. I've never really felt a camaraderie with film critics, I think they're contorted by the constant viewing of movies. What they find interesting and ground breaking, I find stupid and/or mind-umbing... I can see why they like it (it's different) but I rarely agree (case in point: Sin City, Fargo). 10 best of 2005.

I love the smell of spam in the morning

There's something vaguely satisfying about logging into my email accounts first thing in the morning and clearing out the spam for the day. Sure it's mind numbing and annoying if I don't clear it out regularly, but at the same time at least I already feel like I've done something with my day. It's quite interesting to see what the latest snake oil and miracle product is.

I wonder if there are psychics that can see people's futures in their spam?

A New Year, another resolution?

I find myself starting this year without any obvious resolutions. Oh sure... loose weight, make more money, do something with my life could all apply but frankly: I've lost enough weight... I'm still working on the toning, and would love to have a 6 pack showing, but I'm beginning to loose faith that that's possible, make more money... well that's just greed isn't it? I mean sure it would be nice, but I don't need it. As to doing something with my life... well I already am. In that context I mean work on all the various sites I have "in the works"... including a redesign of this here troublesome site... but time is my enemy. I spent my holiday achieving almost nothing... I'm not sure when last I did that (during a brief spell with only occasional contract work back in 2003).

So here I am... with no resolution! I think I'll make my token resolutions: get CS working (deliberately vague until it's launched), get RS more user friendly (ditto), update Bizwarcho (before March), and bring on the 6 pack... or hint off.

There you are, I said it... now I'll have to read this half way through the year and see if I achieved.

Guess that music (Tunatic)

Wow

This free software allows you to play music into a microphone on your computer and using their website it'll identify the song. It can be incredibly accurate, even at distinguishing between different versions of the same song! There's a small piece of (free) software to download onto your local computer before you get started. You really have to test: Tunatic.

Print to PDF

If you've ever needed to print a file into PDF so anyone anywhere can read it (say a word file in a format so that non-word users can read it) then you need some kind of PDF printer driver. Bullzip PDF printer provides just such functionality and it's free for anyone to use (commercial or private).

Christmas is Coming

The last day a work before a nice week off. Most of the oil industry in Cowtown closes down for next week... it's not that some of them want to, but more that it's expected of them (and the others close down). The air in the office has hardly been that of hard work... several people turn on their computer but cannot be found at their desks all day.... others clearly spend a little longer than typical at lunch and come back a little to happy/free with words afterward (side effect of Viagra I hear).

What's really interesting is the amount of junk in my inbox has decreased! Does this mean that, perhaps, spammers also take holidays? Are you telling me those ... people... out there actually have friends and family they'd rather spend time with then massively email the rest of the world?

I'm not sure how that makes me feel... just another human in the same timezone almost makes it worse than outsourced/computer automated emailings. Perhaps it's something simpler... perhaps it's just that people have just spend lots on gifts and they will shortly spend lots on post-Christmas savings so they're disinclined to read/buy from spam anymore.

Google Tips

Google Tips [at SubNixus]

Life

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, martini in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

Virus Samples

While it may seem scary to you that these are available, remember these are old viruses, and nothing that script-kiddie software couldn't provide to you anyway. Have a look at 62nds Virus Samples for more info and the source code of some of the classics.

Fix viruses with a USB drive

Download a copy of NTFS4Dos to make your USB drive bootable. (Caution: You'll loose whatever is currently on the drive). Next add a copy of F-Prot AntiVirus for DOS (an excellent scanning engine). Boot up onto the USB drive and then run the virus scan of your main system without all the viruses and OS loading... perfect for catching those really tricky viruses that prevent scanners from loading and you visiting antivirus sites.

Science Fiction Art

Some excellent tutorials can be found in the Epilogue.net sectionArt Technique page on how to draw in sci-fi stylings. Some of it's for the digital realm, some for the physical, either way the techniques are really handy to reference... next time I'm drawing good and evil babes with clouds.

It happened again!

For the first time in a long time while I was clearing my digital mailbox at work today I was plunged into darkness by the lights... guess I just wasn't moving enough. Bastard power consumption.

Stupid things in audio

The worst audiophile products ever. I have some quality equipment... Denon, Martantz, SPL, Energy, Mirage, Blue Jeans, Stanton, Harman Kardon... quality being an entirely circumstantial, it sort of depends on who you ask and how much you're willing to spend. But the list is quite amusing, not only for the stupid items, but also the writer's comments.

I've said it before....

Something to do with ducks and Christmas. What was it... Duck Christmas. Yeah that was it.

Elevators, malls all over the country, even the radio stations have started with their Christmasee bollocks. Fortunately CJay 92 is playing their parodies... there was a hilarious one yesterday while I was waking up (don't remember the words, although even if I did I'd have to paraphrase, something to do with getting George Castanzaed by your father).

It's not that I'm anti-Christmas, there are many parts I like... including the finding great gifts for my friends and family, and spending time with them (but not spending time with everyone else's friends and family at stores). But a twelth of the year I must endure decorations (I like them... they're shiny) and jingles (BAH) and Christmas songs (so horrible) and rediculous commercials commanding you to "be more generous" (spend more money on their junk). Sure I have things I'd like for Christmas (Burrberry Brit for Men, Ikea gift certificates (for chairs/curtains/shelves/pillows), Philips home theatre in a box, Vinyl, Black Adder on DVD, and various other things) but I'm more just looknig forward to a week of and seeing friends and... well the shiny wrapping paper.

Oh and the food.

Hang Up and Drive

Tony Long is spot on with his wired article Hang Up and Drive... anyone who thinks he sounds too angry should really be put in that situation. I've been in situations not quite like that, but close enough it comes down to the same thing. It actually doesn't hurt to drive for other drivers too... even if you're in a large slayer of people some drivers still miss you/ignore you/aren't paying attention.

Top 20 Geek books

Top 20 Geek Novels.
A pretty eclectic listing... I guess I have some reading to do... I've covered 1/4/5/6/9/16... hardly the most comprehensive coverage!

Rename like a pro

If you've ever had to rename a pile of files... particularly the notorious MP3 files with all their various information, then you definitely need to look at Rename Master.

"Rename Master is a FREE utility for renaming large groups of files with a few clicks. Anyone that has worked with websites, file archives, or collections of music, videos, or pictures has probably spent way too much time renaming hundreds of files.

"This utility will add, remove, or replace parts of the filename with ease and also supports renaming via file properties, MP3 tags, JPEG JFIF and EXIF tags. Batch renaming that's simple to use, yet still very powerful."

MyLib

If you keep content in remote locations, be it hard drives, CDs, DVDs or other computers, this application could be of great use to you. It enables you to create indexes of the remote stuff that can be searched without physically inserting the media disk. Advanced search options include partial name matches, date, file type, size, ID3 tags, comments. You can also keep track of borrowed media, customize the interface and export to HTML.

MyLib

Christmas

Is a continuation of various other religions and holidays including Siberian shaman and Visigoth traditions. Santa comes from the Caucasus, mistletoe from the Celts, yule log from the Goths, the time from the Visigoth and the tree from the worship of Baal.

Maybe we should just leave it named the way it is?

Engage!

Command your computer with your voice, with an application called Responding Heads. Sure there are cheesy heads involved, but they can be turned off. Train your computer and then command it to do as you wish. Soon you too can be living on the starship enterprise!

You may also wish to look at the Responding Heads plugin page which includes a few handy utils.

Rick Mercer

Well the Monday report is gone... it's now just the Rick Mercer Report... which you'll notice has the initials RMR which is still... symmetrical. Brilliant.

I noticed the show on the listings last week so added it to the DVR... not knowing how much I'd missed. Well it turns out that was the season premier. Hurrah! Favourite video clip in the show was the Steven Harper/Hockey spoof (of a Nike commercial). RM plugged his blog... that's right he has a blog now! It's a good read... worth checking out: Rick Mercer's Blog. What an amateur though! Can't even come up with a witty non-sensical blog title.

May try and take part in the photo challenge if I have a bit of extra time... although this week's photo already seems too hilarious to doctor.

A handyCSS Tool

So you're developing CSS, and you want it to look good in all the browsers? Well that isn't the easiest task... you have to have each app open and refresh on your code. CSSVista allows you to how your page looks in IE and Firefox in realtime as you change the CSS. I don't think I'll use it as the sole CSS development tool, but it's very handy for those stupid "gotchas" you get at the end of the development process (fixing one breaks the other, fixing that breaks something else... you know the usual). Certainly worth a look.

OpenOffice Database

Just discovered today that OpenOffice has a database component called Base. Seems to perform in a very similar manner to Access... something that has sat in it's own class (features/ability) for a long time (and a good reason not to move away from MS Office). Certainly worth checking out.

Facial recognition photo storage

A rather awesome new service is emerging called Riya... it's a photo storage service (like Flickr) but it includes facial and text recognition software to help you tag images. It's reportedly able to identify the difference between twins, which sounds impressive. Just in the alpha stage right, now the service is free for you to sign up. You have to download a client to your desktop (Windows only) so you can train the programme but then you are ready to go. Sounds awesome, although I'm wondering if the central system on the web keeps all the recognition ability... or if it's the local client. If it's on the web, and you train it to recognize you... then anyone with a photo of you will recognize you. If they started licensing it to -say- cctv operators... well then they'd know it was you too... it would effectively become an user-built recognition system.

Drink wine, stay smart!

It seems wine really is quite good for you (a glass a day as they say)... for those who don't drink; grapes, berrys and peanuts also contain resveratrol the Alzheimers killer: Wine Compound Attacks Alzheimer's Agent

Xtreme PCs

Check out how small computers can get now over at Chip PC - Thin Clients. The beauty of these is they have VGA, USB, Serial/http://www.chippc.com/products/thinclients/ ports just like a full desktop (not like a PDA). Brilliant for managing some kind of interactive marketing, POS system, robotics, artwork etc.

Free Oracle

Not the cookie baking, smoking one from The Matrix! Oracle (the database company) has finally announced you can download 10g XE for free. It has a few constraints (Single processor, 1GB memory used max, 4GB of data max), but this is an excellent place to start for students, dbas, developers etc. I'll be downloading shortly as presently my systems only use SQL server and MySQL. Have a look at the Oracle Press Release about it.

And....

It's snowing. Not for the first time this year, or even the first time since June, but it's thick white slushy stuff of the Ontario nature and ... well ... it's just plain hard to see anything.

JetStart

If you find the quick launch and start buttons to be inadequate for your short cutting needs, or if you want to clear off your desktop, or you never see your desktop behind all your windows then you might want to try this software out.

I've just started using it at work 'cause this is exactly what I've been looking for. I have a set of links I use every day, but I don't need the whole Start -> Programs -> Folder -> Shortcut method (too much time), and I can't see the desktop... it's always behind a ton of windows, and I don't need all the text files/documentation that also gets installed with an app.

So I've setup JetStart... which can take some time if you have lots of programmes and shortcuts. Unfortunately with the free version you can't rename the folders... obviously the "Games" folder is useless at work, but I can conceptually group in that folder even if it isn't named the right thing. Now I just hover my mouse over the start button and voila, I get my short links grouped into 5 base folders.

It's definitely worth looking at the JetStart site if this is starting to sound good to you, there are screen shots, and the free version is merely 600KB to download. So far I'm so impressed I'm considering buying the pro version for home use, in the corporate environment this is definitely making my life simpler.

Hearty Vegetable Soup? (Tim Horton's)

At the Snowmobile and ATV show a week back I had the luck of being within a block's walking distance of a Tim Hortons. This may not seem like the greatest thing to you, but when you choices on the premises are over-priced Pizza Pizza, or over-priced no name grease, suddenly to be able to get some well priced coffee, doughnuts, and more is quite a find.

When TH first came out with soup and sandwiches I thought "oh great another one jumps on the bandwagon", but after trying their various offerings, I have to admit they're tasty, and very much like a home made sandwich. That being said, I tried the "Hearty Vegetable Soup"... you know the idiotic commercials where the guy has an enormous spoon? Well... I certainly wouldn't use the word hearty... unless it was in a marketing campaign. The soup was really runny... basically just a broth, and then there were small chunks of vegetables sitting at the bottom, sure the corn was whole, but that was about it... the only thing hearty was how involved the chopping/dicing machine/guy was. It still tastes good, it's just not hearty, nor loaded with vegetables, nor will you need a massive spoon (fyi).

Well those are my thoughts.

Holy sh1t! (The Apprentice)

[That is the original Apprentice, aka Donald Trump's apprentice... perhaps we should call it the ApprenTrump just to distinguish from Martha Stewart's Apprentice (I watch both).]

So... I've just finished watching this weeks episode. I found everyone in the boardroom abnoxious... I especially loathed the way Jen and the PM kept interrupting each other and even The Donald... just suck it up and listen to him.

But then WHAM he fires them all!

I've seen past apprentices where I've thought multiple people should be fired, but 4 out of a 7 person team? That's a team hemorrhaging wound... presumably there'll be another shuffle next week.

For now I'm still shocked... I'd say probably two of them deserved to go, but all 4 seamed a little strong. It's probably not about reality though is it? It's about ratings and shock value. Trump almost appeared to not enjoy the move in the end. Of course a sales difference of 100% is atrocious so maybe none of them are fit to work for him?

Tiga's MiniMix (Annie Mac)

Wow
I wouldn't say it's brilliant, some of them really got me moving, but there are so many tracks in there, almost all of which I recognize. At one time you'll be hearing the vocals from one song, the melody from another, and a sample from a third all over his own beat (presumably). He claims to generated a new Genre of "Psychotic" and I'm fairly sure he managed it... it's a really awesome mix. It might even be a "Megamix" (those 5 minutes dealys that throw together a ton of songs).

Tiga is a Canadian DJ/Producer from Montreal. My collection includes one piece of vinyl of his track "You Gonna Want Me" which is an awesome track (go buy it)

Bloody Hell?

I guess it's not a surprising movement, but it seems like a strange one: The Toy. Maybe that's why SMS is so popular?

2005 Canadian Blog Awards

The 2005 Canadian Blog Awards have just been started so get over to the site and cast your votes. Those who think little old me might be worthy... well go vote for me! I find the list of nominations to be an interesting read, several of the blogs on there I've read and recognize!

A new office

There's a new Office in town, it's called ThinkFree. It includes a word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tool (the parts used most often) and nicely integrates with MS Office. Web based interface is included, along with cross-platform functionality (Linux/Windows/Mac). $50 for a license, which is considerably less than the competition... all around a sound looking product.

Eastward Ho!

A holiday today, something of a novelty. With the stress leading up to, and likely because of I wonder if it's even worth trying to take vacation? I remember the good old days of being able to leave without anyone noticing/caring, but now everyone's worried the world will come apart while I'm away.

I mean it's nice to be useful and appreciated, but quite something else when 5 different parties "just need you to do this before you go". Arg! I cannot wait until I'm on that plane this afternoon! I'm so dead tired though, I might be useless once I get there!

Multi IM Client

On the road? Sick of the other multi-clients that you have on your computer (I just dropped Miranda last night, since it now consistently requires rebooting through the evening to continue to converse with my MSN buddies). Have a look at Meebo... it's a website based multi client. Only in Alpha, and apparently not without it's issues, this site provides a nice alternative to installing a client on every machine.

Halloween

If you're considering what to wear for Halloween already, you might want to check out SFXeyes an online distributer of really cool contact lenses. You've seen most of them before in movies... now you can own a set for a fairly good price.

If you're looking for the best contacts you can find 9mmsfx would be the place to go, these two sites are related (sfxeyes is more consumer, and the clearing house, whereas 9mmsfx creates pieces of art).

Sure I sound like an ad, but I'm in on way related, I just thing some of the contacts are really awesome... especially Fremen Eyes, or something that glows in the dark :)

Vitamin D and you

You know you only need to be in direct sun (no cloud etc) for 10-15 minutes twice a week to get an adequate supply of vitamin D? I thought that was kind of neat. Apparently D will actually keep you awake at night if for some reason you consume it then. It's artificially added to Milk in North America (250ml/1 Cup of milk gives you about 50% of your daily intake), but can naturally be found in Salmon, Mackerel, Tuna, Cod Liver oil (as natural as that can be found). Putting SPF8 or above on will block the sunlight that generates vitamin D... which isn't an excuse to go tan without screen, it just means get 5-10 minutes of sun before applying (although almost all brands claim they don't start working for 10-15 minutes after application anyway).

Yep... that's the skinny on D.

Sixteen Pieces

Just 16 pieces of sushi & rolls and we where each done. That in addition to tempora (4 pieces), Gyoza (2 each), Ika (deep fried squid), Edamame, yakitor, myso soup and ginger beef. Ginger beef seems unorthodox but in the words of Tilley it was "super charged ginger".

Lets see if I can remember the sushi...
Tuna, Salmon, Mackerel, Shrimp, Eel, Red Snapper, Octopus, Ebi Special, Capelin Roe, Stampeder Rolls, California Rolls, err... the house special (awesome, except the last one almost crippled Tilley.

Accompanying the Sushi was a relaxing half liter of Sake, and 3 pots of green tea. Most amusing point during the meal was when Millhop and myself consumed fresh Gyoza (straight from the kitchen) and proceeded to sit there with an extortionate pained expression on our faces while we tried to cool the blasted things down. Our choice of fluids included hot Sake, and hot tea... hardly the best setup. Needless to say Tilley bade his time before he burnt his mouth.

Avalon

Soon coming to us all in windows Vista, you can already get going (as a developer) on Avalon apps... have a look at Tim Sneath's blog entry Be an Avalon Test Pilot and Take Your Apps Around the World.

Sushi

It's been far to long since I last tasted the succulent delights of sushi. There was a time at the begining of this year when I went every couple of weeks (or at least every month) but I lost that trick, and haven't been for several months.

This evening will find us at one of the finer all you can eat places. "All you can eat" you say "isn't that a for the chumps". Well no actually, they have an excellent selection of Sushi... fill out a form and get the stuff delivered to your table as it comes available, you get 2 hours to do your worst, and unlimited sets of forms. For $24/head you get delicous Sushi, Sashimi, Soup, Tempora, Terryaki, Rolls, Salad (I know... who would order this?), Edename (mmm Soya beans) and green tea. Damn I'm hungry.

Sure there are standard sushi places in town, but when you're paying for a fixed selection, or by the piece it really starts to add up if you're hungry. Sushi has an amazing ability to not really fill you up... maybe we'll try doing a count of what we eat tonight so you can get a clue, but 16 pieces of sushi, while initially looking like a lot... once consumed will leave you wanting for more.

Believe it or not Calgary is one of the better cities for Sushi, sure if you look at a map we're no where near any obvious fish source (save the trout and squid found in the bow river), but what isn't clear by purely geography is a city with a lust and ready acceptance for culture (a broad term meaning anything that isn't typical including theatre, fine dining, exotic anything, strange food, opera, musicals, ballet, orchestra, penicillin), and a large asian quotant. It doesn't take much to get excellent fish and seafood flown in or even driven (a mere 10 hours) or probably moved by train too. When next your in town try out a sushi place.

MusikCube

A very interesting looking mp3/ogg/ape/flac (plugin: wav/wma/m4a/aac/mod/mpc) playing application with a nice clean interface and some handy plugins. Natively supports a cross fader which is kind of a nice feature. The whole developer/plugin area provides a great frame work for extending the programme to work with other things (eg. "Now Playing" on your website, or a "Shutdown timer", etc). Have a look at MusikCube.

Is it entirely necessary

To teach dolphins to sing the batman theme? It seems like a waste of resources to me... it would have been much better to teach them the hokey pokey.

Lousy October Weather

Well what a great way to start the week. This morning at 2am I'm awoken to the terrible sound of a fire alarm. I was.. in retrospect... quite amusing in my dazed state. This turned my adequate night's sleep into an insignificant night's sleep. This morning I get up (slowly) to find white fluffy stuff falling out of the sky... no not ducks, but snow. Snow! Now I remember that the week after thanksgiving last year (when Tilley moved to town) we had our first big snowstorm. And suddenly I really hope we rally out of this... we've had a weak summer (at best) including a ridiculous amount of rain in June... August and September were both... terrible, and yet still we're punished with snow on this, the third day of October.

Bollocks I say!

Canadian Blogging Survey

Do your part as a Canadian blogger, or blog reader and fill out the Great Canadian Blog Survey. The survey is for Aaron Braaten, a M.A. Candidate in Economics at the University of Alberta.

Kudo's to Aaron for putting this together, and keeping the questions concise, useful, and anonymous enough you don't feel you're talking to a marketing department. Will be interesting to see the results.

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/hybrid/

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/hybrid/

Access violation at address X in module 'MySqlQueryBrowser.exe'.

Where X is some hexadecimal number. If you've had this issue, you know it's really frustrating. Occasionally rebooting the computer running MySQL Query browser will help, occasionally you need to reboot the MySQL server, and occasionally neither of those things help. So what's the deal?

Well after upgrading browser from 1.0.7 to 1.1.14 I still had the issue yesterday (on 3 different computers, although all running Windows XP Pro SP2). When this issue rears it's ugly head, often when you first load the browser, you can't perform any queries (even selects), and frequently don't get to do any table updates etc. After trawling the web I found a clue that just might work... sometimes the history files get corrupted.

Why MySQL did this; I don't know. They're XML files generated by the system, so you'd think it could be fault-tolerant. Well anyway, to fix this issue (at least for me) navigate to c:/documents and settings/USERNAME/Application Data/MySQL and remove the XML Files that are out of date, (ie when you opened the application today they didn't get altered). In my case it was mysqldb_bookmark.xml (a large file) and mysqldb_history.xml. They both had the same last saved date... not sure which was the culprit, but neither store "useful" information (as far as I'm concerned) about MySQL Browser so you won't loose -say- your sessions or stored login information.

Next time you start MySQL browser everything should be peachy... handy eh?

Free up ram!

When used with care, it's sometimes handy to be able to take an application out of memory... usually 'cause you closed it and it didn't completely clean up before it left. Have a look at FreeRAM XP Pro a freeware product which a wodge of handy features for ram management :)

Build a Better Browser

Very interesting article on PCWorld about extensions for Internet Explorer and Firefox... definitely worth a look, you don't know what you're missing! Build a better browser.

smarter houses?

There's lots of technology out there to wire your house... connect audio, tv, telephone and computers all over the house in a network that can cross-talk. See who's calling in a popup on the TV, watch TV on a computer, play your massive audio library at any station in the house. Unfortunately this area is still in it's infancy and most solutions involve a fair bit of technical know-how and custom programming (usually a heft price tag associated for that).

I guess there are some new technologies coming out like SkipJam which allows you to setup a 6 area audio+video, 10 room audio system for ~$6000 (us). That's not too shabby when you consider the cost of building a house. The system runs over standard networking (for my money: cat5e, but also wireless) and provides integration including: call display on your tv/pc, security camera integration, tv on your pc, pc control from your tv (I think...?), audio library convergence (I just made that up... meaning you can play music tunes of a pc in any of the audio zones), and apparently neat features like TV messaging (tell the kids to stop watching tv and come to dinner), and TV control (you've watched enough tv honey, now unplug the toilet).

Hrrm... this blog post sounds like an ad... it's not, I just think the idea's pretty great :)

Horrendous music

I listen to all sorts of music radio stations... mostly through the web 'cause nothing good comes over the airwaves in Calgary. Mostly I like everything I hear... some of it is fantastic, other stuff I respect. But then come some really truly awful songs... and I've heard them one too many times... and now I'm snapping and going to publicly list them:

• Damian Marley 'Welcome To Jamrock'
  Alright so he's Bob Marley's son... but this is horrible... there's this tone deaf guy singing over a non-musical interlude... it's just painful... and way to long. At 20 seconds I might be able to stomach it. I cannot believe how many times I've heard this.
• Red 'Release the Pressure (Fatboy Slim Remix)'
  I was never keen on the original, but it was alright. Everyone gives this song auto-kudo's 'cause Fatboy is a great mixer/producer... and sure I have all of his albums and like a lot of this work, but this song is crapulant. The way it's remixed it's just annoying an frustrating and generally annoying.
• Snoop Dogg - Drop it like it's hot
  Bobby McFerrin made body sounds cool... you guys killed it. Then you overlayed annoying (but catchy) lyrics over the top... and dragged it like a garbage can behind a really fly Chrystler. I'm sorry... I just done like this song... this corporate juggernaut that appears everywhere. I've gotta give this one extra bad points since, unlike the other two that I'll probably never hear in a store or club in Canada... I've heard this one countless times. Tiny asside... I almost slightly like this song after hearing it so many damn times.

You may wonder how I came up with this list? Well these songs are so bad that I've started forward winding on my real player to avoid them... I've never had to go that far before, but there it is.

For those who feel I'm being too negative... listen to:

• Annie Lennox 'Saddest Song (Kuffdam & Plant Remix)'
  Bet you're surprised it's Annie Lennox? I should note I like her, but not only that it's a really beautiful song... then add an awesome remix that just makes it sonically brilliant... it may make you cry though (sorry).
• Britalics feat Manuela 'I Can C Through You'
  It's a happy little ditty... just to get your spirits up. Ironic factor: same label as Fatboy slim... it's a catchy little tune, with something of a nice meaning to the lyrics (I read: she's saying she can see he's trying to hide things and she'd rather he's honest and addresses his issues than hides it/becomes something else).
• Benjamin Thieves 'Texas'
  Not just the lone star state... this awesome song... well it's bound to get over played once it makes it into clubs here (2-6 months probably).
• Red Carpet 'Alright'
  It's apparently a re-release of an older song... I didn't notice that first time I heard it. It's an awesome track that'll be good for those of you who like the retro sound in your modern music (think remixes of old songs, or old groups releasing new music).

Creative Muvo Slim - First impressions

Almost every day after work I follow the old queen adage and get on my bike and ride. I have one of the more expensive discmans around that has ridiculously good skip protection, and will happily sit in the cargo pocket of my shorts (seems like a silly combination doesn't it?) and bump off my leg while I ride... and never skip. You heard me! I have no idea how this deduces the battery life, but it takes a slim NiMH battery that lasts for weeks and weeks on a charge anyway, so I haven't noticed a big difference.

However, the requirement to wear the cargo shorts, the extra bulk, and the fact I go for rides >74 minutes all have brought about the consideration of an MP3 Player.

So I started to look. There are plenty out there, and plenty of opinions about them all. The few rules I had where;

1. it had to be solid state storage (not rotating media... ie any player with a micro drive/hard-drive in it)
2. it had to have a display
3. it couldn't be too big or ugly
4. the ability to record would be really nice (but not a requirement per say).

Items 1&2 effectively removed the Mac line, despite the fact they're awesomely designed, and definitely satisfy #3. The standard iPod, of course, has a laptop hard-drive in it, and the iPod mini has a micro-drive, the Shuffle doesn't have a display. Perhaps you're wondering about my rules? Well spinning storage, while offering far more space for the money, consumes far more power.... especially when it comes to skip protection. It's not a CD spinning, but a tiny, far more expensive, hard-drive platter... which is also disturbed by vibrations and movement. Both the iPod, and Mini have a max of 10 hours of music playback per charge... that's going to be a lot of charging for me to do. The shuffle doesn't have a display, doesn't allow you to pick the order the tracks come out, and basically is the bastard child of Mac. I don't know why they made it... sure it's white... and a novel design, but all functionality has been designed out of it. "A white stick that plays random music" is just about the only thing you can say for it.

People think MP3 players are MP3 players, but actually there are two basic kinds... the larger jukebox kind, which are basically clever hard-drives (rule 1), and the compact - battery conserving memory players. Sure they both play music, but they're quite different machines.

Rule #2 only actually removed the Shuffle... no one else has been foolish enough to create a music player that can old up to 300 tracks without you knowing what was playing. If you wanted that you could listen to a radio... although unfortunately sometimes the presenters even mention the track. I'm guessing the other manufacturers looked at all the personal reviews out there that all state how stupid it is there's no display.

Rule #3 removed 90% of the market out there... lets face it... function over form has been the motto for a lot of electronics makers. Sure you can get something in brushed-aluminum, but it can still be ugly.

Rule #4 happened to be moot. I don't know if there are recording players out there... maybe on the bigger jukebox models? The closest I could find was players with built in microphones that can record speech. This is actually quite brilliant since it effectively makes your player a dictaphone/memo machine as well. Anyone who's looked at an all-digital recorder has found they cost about the same as an MP3 player (~$100) for mono storage and playback with far less space. This was my least important rule, so I was happy to overlook it on my shortlist.

Sony's line of MP3 players basically came out on top. The older models (E100 series) look like amaretti biscuits... a disk 2" in diameter about 0.25" thick. A display sits in the middle, with controls and sockets around the edge. Battery life was impressive, even though they don't come with rechargeable batteries (70 hours from a single AAA battery). The newer models (E400 & 500 series) look like usb drives... 0.5" wide, 2" long, 0.25" thick. They include the infamous organic el displays (the LCD killer... more flexible, better power consumption, better colours, easier manufacturing), rechargeable batteries, ultra compactness and style. They even claim a 3 minute charge (connected to a USB port) will provide 3 hours of playback... that's pretty convinient... everyone finds their player is dead just as they are about to go out, rather than at the end of the activity they wanted to listen to music during. Of course, the problem with Sony stuff is it's a bit more expensive than everyone else's offering. Especially they newer models.

Then one happy day I opened up a sales flier from a local store and found the Creative Muvo Slim on sale. It had flash memory, was very compact, was very sexy, and at a price better than even the Shuffle (which, remarkably for Mac, is the price to beat in this area). It didn't take too much thought to decide on that... about the size of a credit card and

Jail

AWOL

Haven't you heard? She likes her discounts five fingered style.

Terrorists Don't Do Movie Plots

In Bruce Schneier's article about terrorism, he makes several brilliant observations... everyone must read. There are several ludicrous rules due to terrorism, that just target the small niche of something that's happened in the past. There are so many places in everyday life where a terrorist attack would be both horrific, and impossible to defend against, that to defend the scant few types we've already seen just seems stupid.

Nothing works like the movies do, nothing except the movies about actors.

Marinated in Perfume

Rode the elevator down today with this unpleasant lady who had obviously just bathed in perfume. So pungent was the wretched scent that I attempted to hold my breath for the remaining 20 floors in order to reduce the liquid pooling in my lungs. I survived the ordeal... I feel sorry for her husband (for she wore a ring) and anyone who had to work with her, at least those in the next 24 hours.

blogging from kensington

Here I sit, on the patio @ Charlie Chan's /w my Axim... and low and behold... an open wi-fi network. So Tilley & I consider our world domination... eating Chow Mien & Schezuan Beef.

Audio Fidelity

I'm some kind of audio-aholic. I'm fairly certain you can draw a line between the way your parents are, and the way you will become when it comes to the importance of music. My father always had a killer audio setup with Tannoy speakers that I spent most of my childhood life trying to become taller than, a Quad amplifier, a Transcriptors record player, and an Arcam CD player.

Here I am and I own more speakers than some do in their lifetime, my living room, while not dominated by speakers, has the speakers prominently placed for sound first, and looks second, rather than for invisible/subtle audio. I (naturally) have a home theatre setup that can rival some movie theatres, but I also DJ and create music on occasion.

My first major audio purchase (a powerful stereo setup) involved me, my mother, and a second hand audio dealer. The dealer was hilarious, his showroom was littered with amazing record players, however when inquiring about any player we discovered that they weren't for sale, but part of his personal collection. I initially went in on a lunch break way back yonder and just talked to the owner about what I was looking for. This was my first summer of a "proper" job so I was on top of the world with some "real" money. I was mostly looking at new speakers (Mirage, Energy, Paradigm, Mission), but hadn't discounted older equipment... if there's one thing I learned from my fathers stuff, it was that in the stereo world audio technology hasn't changed much over the last few decades.

What I finally picked up was a pair of Paisley SPL 4000 monitors. They're practically impossible to find now, at the time I just liked the sound (I was just starting out on the long road to discovery. Ian Paisley is one of the founding fathers of speakers in Canada... its something of a complex story, but the group that originally made my speakers (Audio Products International - API) has gone on to create Energy, athena, and Mirage speakers. England has always been something of a hotbed for audio equipment, but it turns out Canada is very well respected on the international market for it's speaker manufacturing.

Many years later, I wish I could find more information about my speakers. In the internet age, plenty of places provide historical user manuals and specs on things created before the 'net, but sadly I haven't found much. I have discovered there where rather ugly looking SPL 1000's that you can sometimes see on Ebay, and that the SPL 3000 is widely sought after. I have no idea how far the product line goes, or what the differences between the speakers are, but I have found that the monitors are some of the best speakers you'll ever hear. Something I did find was an article on a tour of the API factory... I'm sure that would be a really interesting tour to go on indeed (right up there with a single malt tour in Scotland, a vineyard tour in france, a Ducatti or Lamborghini tour in Italy, a Boeing tour in the US, or perhaps a Pyramid tour in Egypt).

In the world of home theatre, most know the .1 in 5.1 systems stands for a subwoofer. The sub track allows punch to be added to the movie without needing large speakers. Some would even argue the punch a sub can produce cannot be reproduced by typical speakers. I've never got around to adding a sub to my surround setup, the Paisley's provide such amazing bass there's unlikely to ever be a need. On a certain Propellerheads track, there's one note that'll actually get the speakers to rock.... that's some impressive power for a 50lb cabinet!

The more I read about the API group, the more intrigued I am by the Mirage line of speakers. Certainly it's a large jump up in cost... possibly something to aspire to in the future, but for now I'm sound as a pound with what I've got.

Use Windows' bad security in your favour

K, so you've forgotten your windows license key... or worse, your crapulant vendor didn't supply it to you, so if you ever want to rebuild you're not sure what you should put in for the key... download Magical Jelly Bean Software's Keyfinder [Free] and find out what's stored on the system.

Ever stored a password in internet explorer only to wonder a couple of months later what the hell you're actually entering? Well first... don't security is not even slightly good, second... have a look at Snadboy Software's Revelation software [Free, but donate if you keep], to unlock your asterisk hidden passwords.

Yep... security is key.

Mute stupid security center

My virus scanner updates twice a week, sometimes it can't update on the day I request 'cause I haven't turned my computer on. What do I get? A stupid security center popup informing me my computer is now completely useless and aiding all the spammers of the world.

Enough of that bollocks. Start -> Control Panel -> Security Center -> Link:Change the way Security Center alerts me -> Uncheck all the boxes and you'll be hassle free.

Stress free with B

I heard from a friend, who heard from a naturopath that vitamin B is excellent at reducing stress in your life. No I don't mean it'll stop people putting deadlines on you, but it changes the way your body/mind deals with stress. I guess for people who get easily stressed/jumpy/worry about things it can really reduce the load. Brings a more mello vibe.

You need to find a brand with all B's (5 of them typically) and 100mg's of each. That's actually not as easy as it sounds... my searching found only one brand that stood up to scrutiny, and that was 120capsules for $20... not the cheapist vit. I take a multi already (making up 15mg of all b's) so I thought I'd just supplement that. This week I started taking a 50mg B with my multi and Lysine.

Is it working? Well I think it might be. I'm just not that stressed about all the work I have to do. I know I have to do it, but I only have as much time as I have to get it done, and if I can't do it... well so be it. I'm not expecting any miracle cures here, but lets see where this goes (I've only taken it for a few days). The real kicker is going to come around deadline time or when things start breaking (as they inevitably do).

An excellent example of this... MS has released a patch, and in it's brilliance this patch destroys a business process where I work. What does that mean? A laboratory can no longer generate data... which means it'll eventually get closed by the government (ie no more production). No small deal you see. Microsoft's hideous upgrades don't usually effect like this, but sometimes you just get unlucky. Unfortunately the exact issue isn't known, nor do we yet know if it's possible to change the settings on whatever this "security enhancement" is so that the scripts will again run. Meanwhile we've found an old computer (outside the standard upgrade schedule) that runs just fine, and ultimately we had a plan to upgrade that code anyway.

This is what I actually think about it! Doesn't sound like the words of a stressed man does it? We're talking, well, thousands of dollars of production a day... so it'll become a VP issue quickly enough... that is if we hadn't already found a work around.

Are you ready b?

T-Mobile Opens Wireless Floodgates in New Orleans

While the Register is always tongue in cheek, this article makes some good points about how... useful this offer is: New Orleans to enjoy free Wi-Fi access.

Happy Birthday Alberta

Looks pretty good for a 100 year old.

PiXPO

This P2P application allows you to connect directly with others to share pics, video, audio etc without first uploading... straight from your desktop to theirs. Unfortunately both parties must use the PiXPO software (only unfortunate in that it's *yet another install*).http://www.pixpo.com.

Free Video Distribution

I'm not sure how they can make money doing it, but there's a new service called Veoh which Robin good talks about in his blog... looks interesting.

Google goes IM

It was inevitable, but I can't wait to get off of MSN... Google now has gone IM with google talk it even has nicely integrated voice/speaker setup so you can talk to someone on the other end too. You'll need a Gmail account first, but then you're good to go. [Google / Gmail gets IMed]

Some killer services.

smugmug provides you with unlimited online backed up storage for $40us/yr, or $100us/yr for the advanced package. See the site for differences, but the features of even the basic package are great... definitely worth paying more than nothing for your photo storage. In the professional package you can actually sell your photos to people using their interface... you set the price and hopefully see the money come in.

ClipShack is a similar service for video clips, converting your video into flash so it can be played on any machine with ... flash. It's basically designed so you can share short clips with other people or the whole world if you make it public. You can get a 50MB account for free.

Applied Language - Free Website Translation provides... free... website... translation. It's mechanical (meaning far from perfect) but it's free and they even include ways to integrate it into your site.

The Hazards of a family+friend run wedding

This Saturday I saw two friends of mine get married. One I know well, the other enough to know it's a good match. For some reason I made the mistake of mentioning that I DJ and bam I'm DJing for the wedding.

I started off worrying about it... as one does. What I spin/play on my own time/at parties, is not the sort of music you break out for a wedding (Armand Van Helden, Fatboy Slim, Deep Dish, Underworld, Dirty Vegas, Daft Punk etc). I was worried about how boring playing "golden oldies" was going to be. Then I started picking out tunes (from my own collection, no less) that I could potentially play at the wedding. All in all I had 73 CDs and 10 pieces of Vinyl (I didn't really want to play vinyl in this case). That's a pretty ridiculous amount when you're only playing 2 hours of audience music + 2 hours of background jazz

On the day, I was more than a DJ, I was also mr sound guy. Which is fine... I enjoy doing that sort of thing. I setup by the dancefloor and did a sound check, then we hauled the speakers and mics outside for the ceremony. Ran another sound check there and then went home to change.

And here's where the problems began. The sound check I did was at one level, adjusted while I was away (had to be to stop accidental feedback anyway), the wireless mic I meticulously set, wasn't even used, and the wired mic wasn't loud enough. That's just the audio, the crowd was then moved around by the minister 'cause she didn't wear the mic (move closer so you can hear me sort of thing), the table - carefully placed earlier - was moved at the last minute, the flower arrangement was put the wrong way around (which irked the bride, not sure anyone else knew/noticed). Then as the programme progressed people (a) weren't sure what to do or (b) happily skipped the proposed progression and almost cut the wedding cake (!) while some of us hadn't even started eating dinner. Wtf?

Granted some of this comes down to badly behaved guests, but there was also an issue with defined roles. In retrospect I should have been more pro-active in the sound setup... hunted the minister down and made sure she put on the mic, re-checked the sound right before the ceremony. Made sure the readers got access to the mic (not just the cellist). For the other parts, there should have been a Master of ceremonies (or wedding planner), just to let everyone know what was next, where they should head etc etc. Of course some of the problems stemmed from an outdoor + indoor wedding, with the inside being on two levels, and there being a portion on the deck... yep there where 4 separate places to be.

Overall things where quite smooth, and I don't think anyone would say it wasn't successful, it just wasn't perfect. The bride handled most of the planning, in addition to what's actually going on for her during the day that's just too much. Day of... someone else should run the show, and not someone in the wedding party either, someone to decide times, to field catering, audio, directional questions, and to scold the rude.

In short what we needed was Franck Eggelhoffer.

Sponsor something elsewhere

An acquaintance of mine sponsors a tiger. Tiger's need sponsoring, it seems to cost anywhere from $20 to $350/month. I'm guessing at $20 you're a cheap SOB who's one of many paying for -probably- a wild animal who just needs yearly shots or heroin or whatever it is you give to sick Tigers. The $350 is far more likely going to fill the coffers of the zoo the animal is in. But enough about them. A neat idea... maybe he or she will stop by some time for tea?

The same acquaintance sponsors a child. They can be less expensive, and more rewarding. After all if you're coughing up enough dough they'll write you letters professing how you're some kind of god to them. Perhaps they now have the interweb, and can send scam emails to gullible Americans (hell for this reason alone it's worth the $10/mn). With Tiger's all you get is a paw print and maybe a bit of fur every so often. Granted, this can be more eloquent.

I always wondered if you where able to go visit your sponsored stuff. (Stuff seams a little harsh but I've got mixed sex and animal types, so: tough). Technically you should be able to... if you're willing to go to the hellhole they're in. If they're not in a hellhole then you're probably paying a lot of money ($350/mn for a tiger for example). You'd probably still have to pay zoo entrance of course. When you get there, would you find other people who also sponsored the same animal? Do you have the resources to make sure you're the only sponsor? Is there a plaque, or website linking your name (if you want) to the item? Yeah I thought not. Is there open accounting for where your money's going? You know like the Canadian government has? Just like the government you say? So no then.

More importantly if you've generously sponsored -say- a Tiger and a Child... is it possible for them to meet each other? Perhaps they can prove themselves to you in some sort of competition. The best can continue to have your attention, the other... well they'll get cut from the team.

I'm off to sponsor an Penguin, Polar Bear and Orca.

Best ball? Least useless

Friday was my first corporate golf tournament. Sure I had to fork over a little dough for it, but with lunch, dinner, the tournament and some prizes included it didn't seem too much to ask. 18 holes on a nice course near Bragg Creek was definitely a very civilized way to spend a Friday. Technically just the afternoon but since I helped with registration and setup I got out there quite a lot earlier. The whole event was an amazing piece of organizing going smoothly from start to finish without any hiccoughs. Things like bags where whisked away to carts as soon as you go there, and carts where all lined up and ready for your use. It was quite brilliant.

But then there was my game. I didn't have any. I made one golden putt early in the game so that everyone thought I was brilliant at that (doh) and that was about as much as I contributed to the team. I dont' know what it was, but I played possibly my worst ever. Fortunately I'd warned the people I was with that I wasn't good... so I didn't have to live up to much. I was still disappointed... I wasted pretty much the whole game going nowhere... it wasn't even like I was decent but there was better *sigh*

Still as a team we managed 7 under par (there's an under par now?) which was decidedly impressive. My shots where counted 2 or 3 times... pretty awful. The only thing I did appreciate was there was another on our team who wasn't very good... he kept my terrible shots company.

Fan meets shit

Hilarity ensues.

USB Login

A great idea from Palcott Natural Login Pro allows you to use a USB drive as your login for your computer. Gone is the need for a password, all you need is the physical device and you're off to the races. You unplug the USB drive, your account gets locked. Simple and obvious, and yet unless someone lose the drive or leaves it behind it's pretty hard to beat!

How to Use JMS with PHP

Good for future reference: How to Use JMS with PHP. Of course by the time I get around to using something like this there'll probably be a built-in PHP extension.

Genuine Advantage

Microsoft "Genuine Advantage" cracked in 24h: window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all' AV sez, "This week, Microsoft started requiring users to verifiy their serial number before using Windows Update. This effort to force users to either buy XP or tell them where you got the illegal copy is called 'Genuine Advantage.' It was cracked within 24 hours." Before pressing 'Custom' or 'Express' buttons paste this text to the address bar and press enter: javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all')

Keynesis Portable Sweeper

You use your USB drive on a computer and some information gets left behind. You think that ultra-secure document is restricted to the USB memory? Think again! Maybe the Keynesis Portable Sweeper is a helpful addition... it sits right on the drive (no need to install on the local computer) and doesn't need extra rights... but'll clear up any leftovers so you needn't worry about corporate data leaking (or something you're trying to sell being left behind).

If you Ebay, you know how addictive

It is to find last minute deals that are well priced. Or to push through an auction and actually win something. Lastminute Auction provides an excellent starting point for your bargain hunting! Unfortunately it's North America listings... and as a Canuck that can mean some nasty shipping/taxes on top of your purchase, but sometimes that still makes the purchase a useful investment.

Just be careful when you visit the site... it's easy to get carried away.

Happy Birthday Annie Mac

Happy Birthday Annie Mac (BBC Radio 1). 52 weeks of solid tunes, and great presenting. I don't know how I'd get through my work week without listening to the last Annie Mac show!

I wonder how many 12" have been won over the last year?

Harry Potter leaked in BC

This is way old news, but I stumbled across a stupid person who feels no one should read Harry Potter books forever because of the ludicrous injunction put on a few people who got a sneak-peek of the book in Coquitlam BC.

Who cares?
Lets start at the top: who cares? First... 14 people got them early... that was a mistake and I can understand a repercussion for the sellers, however, it was only 14 people. Since the book was ripped into Ebook format in record time, clearly there were other places around the world where this happened. In order for any of the retailers to have the book to sell on the first day the shipments must have come in early. Surely there were several staff at every bookstore in the world that had access to those shipments before the day.

Don't spoil it
There is a reason the book is released everywhere at once... but lets face it, England got it +5 hours on Toronto who got it +3hours on BC. It's an awesome idea to release the book everywhere at once, everyone who's really into it will get it at approximately the same time and get reading. It was sold early... big deal. I 100% agree that those people shouldn't leak any advantage they got by receiving the books early. I don't see why they couldn't start reading it... they're fans... they make the book what it is. On the other hand... is it a big deal to wait a few days?

The Joke that is the Supreme Court of British Columbia
Lets not forget this whole issue was enforced by the Supreme court of BC. Doesn't it have anything useful to do with it's time? Shame on JK for chasing it that far... although it's more likely her publishers or someone else in the chain really pushed for this. The book was sold early... ooops... lets not have that happen again. Why a court order? Dumb: YES. Reason to boycott: NO. A public apology to the 14 people who have freaking court orders against them: YES

Human Rights Violation? Are you insane?
Richard Stallman.. his name probably rings a bell, and so it should. He's had a lot to do with open-source, and the license that allows collaborative work to be used and progressed. However this retarded outburst leaves me re-evaluating my opinion of him. Stopping people from reading a book for a few days is definitely not a violation of human rights. What is this right that we have to read a book early? Think about what you're saying. The injunction was not disallowing the buyers to read (ever), but just to hold them back. Who knows if they actually followed this? I suspect the RCMP wasn't watching to make sure. Frankly the whole point of the fiasco was to stop the book getting spoiled... that's honorable, it's not violating any right. In fact for someone to spoil the book before all the people eagerly awaiting it get their copy is practically a violation. Maybe there should have been some trust here... again: accident, 14 people. Why not just ask them not to read/post any information about the book until after it's released.

To boycott buying the books... it's extraordinarily extreme, and lets face it you're only hurting yourself. No one else is going to follow the boycott, which leaves you without the enjoyment of reading (all this to "teach someone a lesson"). To never read any Harry Potter books again... that's just stupid. Stallman's not suggesting this, Keramidas seems to be missing the point and over-reacting even more. Over reactions on over reactions. Have you heard the phrase "mountain out of a mole hill?".

Honestly, who the hell throws their shoe?

Charlie Jade

It's that time where I break out the kudo's for another awesome show. It's sci-fi again. It's noir, it has blade runner esque undertones... and multiple universes. But it comes down to a show about people and relationships again.

Google ranking.

Some handy articles appeared today, including Key Factors To Achieve High Google Ranking (on Robin Good's site), and Google Ranking Factors - SEO List, a comprehensive list of ranking factors you should consider.

Endless hours of satellite goodies

Can be found on Beenmapped.com a collection of the more interesting google satellite images. Check out the top 20... some of the photos are awesome. I wonder if this changes the way the military (for example) will move things around? With the public able to view almost all of the globes surface, there's a chance someone will be something they shouldn't.

GX::Transcoder

Right of the bat I have a need for this application. When I first started putting CD's in and it offered me the option to "Rip" I was just clicking yes and letting it go. However the WMA format, while adequate isn't as versatile as the MP3 format. Sure, lots of things support both formats, but not everything does. Take an iPod for example. Or my MP3 CD player. So I found a new programme to perform the ripping/encoding. The problem? I have a ton of CD's in WMA format right now.

Fortunately GX::Transcoder is designed to decode/encode a file from one format to another. It comes supporting MP1, MP3, MP2, MPC, OGG Vorbis, PCM up to 7.1 Channel, G.721, G.723, G.726, G.729, ADPCM, GSM, VOX, DSP, VQF and RAW, with MOV and QT decode only. With plugin's you can add support for AAC, M4A, M4P4, LA, LPAC, WMA, TTA, OptimFrog, WavPack, FLAC, rkAudio, Real Audio, Speex, Bonk Audio and Shorten. It'll also help you with video file conversion (if you don't have your own tool).

Handy! Have a look at GX::Transcoder

XML Encryption with Java

Very interesting topic, well worth the read.... will appear as gibberish to most :| Managing XML Encryption with Java

Mouth Ulcers/Canker sores be gone!

In a moment of excruciating pain -nay- during a month plagued by mouth pain I decided to use that incredible tool (the internet) to lookup what others with the affliction have found to help.

It all started when I was born... or at least as close to that as my memories permit. You could pretty much guarantee that if you asked "do you have mouth ulcers" I'd always affirm your fears.... often with a count (for one, clearly, was never enough). I went to several specialists including top of the line orthodontists in London. "He'll grow out of it" was the best they could come up with.

I tried every potion and substance that was supposed to help... some taste great but probably did nothing... others (certain pastels) I was supposed to hold on the sore and it would numb the pain. The failed to mention the part where you fell asleep and woke up with it stuck on some obscure part of your body (usually in my hair groan). In recent years there have been several major steps forward in the potions... or maybe it's just there's way more of them?

I thought Canker, a product made by Blistex was pretty killer... it numbed the area (perfect just before a meal) and put a protective cap over the sore. However it didn't improve heal time, and I found quite a lot of claims on the 'net that it actually aggravated the problem (can't say I noticed it getting worse, and the relief from the sore was more than payback enough).

Then I came across a huge conversation, one that lasted several years. There where lots of snake oils buried in it (or at least I assumed they where... "Even though I work for this company, I had ulcers, now I'm completely healed... just order from my website"). But one mention that cropped up again and again was Lysine.

I know that was a body building website I sent you to (if you clicked) but it has all the essential information. Interesting that it helps with the absorption of calcium. It's an essential amino acid, something you don't generate in your body, but which you need to intake. It comes in all sorts of foods, but in low doses. This isn't typically a problem for most people.

I followed the advice of several raving reviewers... and started to take a tablet a day. Fortunately it was recently deregulated in Canada... which means I walked into my local GNC and bought a bottle (60 tables of 500mg capsules for ~$16 Canadian). This bottle lasted for two months, I saw a massive reduction in mouth ulcers... I had only one outbreak in that whole time. I actually thought I wouldn't have any but then during a really stressful time I got some. I wasn't disappointed with this... take a pill a day, more of less eradicate the cankers. They always said they where stress related (but I failed to see how I could be stressed my whole life).

... I'm sorry...

I keep switching between mouth ulcer and canker sore. I was born in England, so I'm used to "mouth ulcer" and in a medical sense they have very similar properties as stomach ulcers (apparently). Canker sore seems to be the name of choice in North American, which seems slightly dirtier to me. Jury's out on what I call them, so I switch just to confuse the hell out of everyone.

... back to the story...

My bottle almost done, I went back to GNC to get replacements. Well great news! They've doubled the number of tablets (120), and they've doubled the dose per tablet (1000mgs). The site I was referring too suggested that anywhere from 500mg to 1000mg would cut it. I felt wasteful taking two of the previous kind, but I can't exactly split these new ones so now I'm up to 1000mgs. It got better! I haven't had a canker since. Not one. I've had a sore mouth in the evening (anyone who suffers knows the pre-sore feeling... usually the day before). But the next day (I take the Lysine in the morning after breakfast) I got no sores.

Brilliant! I suppose I'm now one of those who profess how great Lysine is. All I can say is, it worked fantastically for me... always sores to 0 sores... that's pretty tough evidence to beat. I'm sure doctors will figure out what causes susceptibility to mouth ulcers, but for once in my life... I don't care about them.

Best Video/web Add-ins

PC World has published another handy list of applications you really will love when you have a need for them.

Includes Windows Media Bonus Pack (powertoys, utils and more for WMP), Harry's Filters v3.0 (69 image effects), CutePDF v3.0 (combine and edit PDF with Adobe), Solid Document Converter v2.0 (edit PDF's in Word without Adobe)

Best Audio and Video Add-ins
Supercharge the way your computer handles media files with these add-ins.

Create Video Torrents in One Click

Very interesting article on PopCast a piece of software that allows an always-on computer to distribute your homemade movie through BitTorrent. If you're popular other's will have the Torrent so the bandwidth will be more distributed (the very nature of BitTorrent). There's a player you'll need to watch other's channels and a producer you'll need to broadcast you're own Channel (Download page). It doesn't cost you anything to use either piece, and your channel information is displayed on their site (free promotion!) will this be the next podcasting step? Probably not... but being able to distribute your home-brew movies is very handy. For the savvy|frequent movie generators out there, it's (naturally) going to be better to put the Torrent file out on a webserver (with high bandwidth) rather than on your home network, since your ISP will balk if your bandwidth usage gets too high.

Full Article:Open Access Internet TV via Popcast: Create Video Torrents In One-Click [Robin Good]
There are other similar tools out there like FireAnt, Prodigem, Open Media Network and OliveLink to name a few.

Where to submit your podcasts

Definitely something I'm looking into, and probably something that VinylVixen will be getting into Podcasting is a way of running your own radio station/getting your own mixes and selection out there on the web for others to listen to. Robin Good has an excellent article on how to publicize your station/stream/files Where To Submit Your Podcasts: Best Podcast Search Engines And Directories.

Open Source Control Panels

While our host uses CPanel, probably the most accepted and widely used control panel out there, there are some free solutions for those who can't afford the licensing. At this point in time these panels are rapidly developing and trying to catch up, but that doesn't make them useless. Don't forget you can use these on your home web servers for administering accounts. Have a look at Webmin, ZPanel.

Handy Video Tools

As you start messing around with video you realise you need a lot of new software, but not everything has to be a massively expensive software package. Here are some gems.

ISOBuster
This utility allows you to recover data from CDs and DVDs that have failed. It looks for physical problems, documents them and lets you save and edit the files effected. All other files come off as normal... no damange... full access.

VirtualDrive v9.0
Convert a physical CD into a highly compressed image on your hard drive or network file server, then run the application as if you've inserted the CD-ROM. Supports audio CD's, games, MP3 compression, and VCD files. Now includes password protection.

ftp:mget many files without the constant questions

You where a DOS guru and you loved the old /y command to stop the constant questioning when you're copying multiple files around. Today you're downloading something through the basic FTP included in windows, and you're using mget... but you're, once again, sick of the constant prompting.

Have no fear! Try the following commands:

ftp> prompt n
Interactive mode Off .
ftp> mget *.doc

... you'll still get the files, but without the constant question "do you want to download?"

They're not evil

Magnatune is a new kind of record label, more of the cloth that doesn't screw the artists. With options like "try before you buy"... the ability to listen to selected complete albums in MP3 format, and the fact that 50% of all sales goes to the artist this record company seems like it's on a solid foundation.

Off to check out the artists...

Enhancing

You might think MAC user's get all the fun stuff, but there are some companies and individuals out there working on some killer software for various machines an at a price point everyone can swallow (often free!). Today I came across several applications which look dead sexy.

Object Dock
Gives you a little interface with icons that animate when you move your mouse over. Setup custom groupings, add extra widgets... it's all possible with this application. If you've used a Linux OS or MAC then you'll know exactly how great these little bars can be. Purely flashy, there's little benefit to this application except cosmetics.

Multiplicity
This application has long been promoted on lockergnome. I wasn't sure if I understood the point of it, but today I read an illuminating article (How do you use Multiplicity?) which set it out. By all means read the article, but the long and the short of it: control many computers from one computer. If you have two (or more) computers sitting side by side (or close at least), you can designate one as the "master" and then roll your mouse onto the other screens. Whichever screen the cursor is on is the one you're controlling, (it's where they typing will go)... with the enhanced versions you can copy and paste files between all the computers too! It's like those multi-monitor setups you can get for one machine, but each screen has it's own OS and hardware at it's disposal. Or it's like remotely controlling other desktops without loosing you current desktop. Think of the advantage of being able to do this when you have a laptop you frequently use with your main computer?

For those who know(tice)

I saw an add for a 3.2P4 64bit system. Second hand, but a month old (they claim) and an incredible price. I did some research and discovered such a processor can be found for $365 ($100 more than I paid for a 3.2 32bit 6 months ago). I also had a look at the site for my mobo (ABIT I80) and discovered it can now take the 64 bit processors. If I didn't already have an awesome 3.2 32bit, and it wasn't such a hassle to get pure-64bit running, I would definitely switch it out. For now I'll bide my time (Monty).

Of more interest, however; I tripped over the prices for the Intel 820, which is the dual core 2.8Ghz processor. It's also 64 bit, but has two processors built in. You'd think a dual core processor at this speed would be expensive eh? $330! That's $35 less than it's single core counterpart the only punishment: a loss of 400Mhz in speed. I don't really see why you wouldn't go with a dual core given the choice. Of course there's a huge jump to go to the 3.0Ghz ($440) and 3.2Ghz ($710) dual cores... but you are talking twice the processors here. One of the more obvious differences is the 6xx (single core 64 bit) series processors have 2Mb cache, while the 8xx (dual core 64 bit) have 1Mb cache/processor (a grand total of:2). This cache is very expensive, so keeping it low is an obvious way to keep the processors competitive in price. The 5xx series (32 bit single core), which I have, only have 1Mb cache.. and that was already a doubling of cache over the earlier P4's (same speeds) which came with just 512Kb of cache.

Do you ever worry...

About people who sit at lights in reverse?

First of all these people are so out of touch with the roads that they completely missed the stop line at an intersection. They therefore feel the need to slip into reverse and back up so they're not dominating the intersection/blocking the flow of traffic/still on the bodies. However, after their relocation they happily leave their car in reverse. The wait at the light seems to be the longest moment of your life... as you ponder whether it'll be your last... "surely they'll notice they didn't change back into drive" you think.... "at any second the lights'll blink out and it'll be all good" (assuming they choose something other than neutral).

Then you start to wonder if it's really necessary to have bright white marking of your impending doom. Too dim to illuminate what's behind you in the dark, and yet highly noticeable to anyone who's sitting right in their sights. What was the point of a white lights anyway? It has to be dark before it's noticeable unless you're observant. And lets face it most people aren't... they'd signal at every light, and not sit in your blind spot if they were. Is it really necessary to know when the light goes green the smeg-head in front of you is going to try and mount himself on your hood?

Through some kind of Divine intervention I've never actually been hit by these people... the light will go green , their backup lights will blink out, and off they go. Forward. Like nothing even happened. Meanwhile I'm left craving anything that'll allow my body to replace all the adrenalin it just dumped into my blood supply.

Timesheets

As someone who's developed timesheet software I'm interested to see where Daniel Gray goes with this. What he's requesting is not something I've needed (by the second time tracking).. I've always worked in minimum 15minute increments and input my time at the end of the day. Kept everything web based so it can be run on any OS with a very minimal server setup. Even had some nice javascript/css/dhtml based controls that where more natural for time sheet completion (none of this typing in numbers, just mark it on a scale). [Timesheet software].

Figure out how far you excercised

GMap Pedometer Awesome site... allows you to place pins in a google map to mark a route you follow and it'll tell you how many miles you've gone. If you wanna know what that is in KM's, just multiply by 1.59. It was only yesterday that I heard google released an API for it's maps section... such a brilliant idea :)

Hack Life

With Life Hacker; a site with links, downloads and advice. Ever changing, very interesting :)

Copyscape

Search for copies of your site, or blatant rip-offs of your text with Copyscape... looks like it's not smart enough to know an aggregator's listings, but it's still a handy tool... especially on pages where you put a ton of effort in.

Make RSS and Atom subscribing Easy

With quickSub, a javascript function that allows users to subscribe to feeds with a handy little rollover GUI.

complete freeware collection

Next time you need an application for a certain function, say desktop publishing (DTP) creating a portable document format (PDF), or running a multi-client instant messenger (IM) this website is going to be the first place you should look. Not a comprehensive list of freeware, but a hand picked list of the best (an opinion naturally). Put together by a fellow Canuck, Xtort.net brings us complete freeware collection....

Grassroots Collaboration tools

Robin Good has created a very helpful presentation on Grassroots Collaboration Tools. While not a comprehensive list of what you can use, it's an excellent selection of collab tools for your next project.

Vancalgary breaks the record...

So yesterday it rained. Surely this isn't shocking... I mean a little rain... makes things green right? Not yesterday, it just made more brown. Mud that is.... flowing down the river, around construction sites, around people's yards and worse: back into the basements and parking lots only starting to recover from the rest of June's rampant flooding.

27.4mm fell yesterday pushing to a whopping 247.7mm of precipitation this June. This broke the record June precipitation of 224mm (June 1902), and the record precipitation in a month of 245.4mm (July 1927). Typically we can expect to see 79.8mm of precipitation in June, 412.6mm in a year. That means in this month alone we've achieve over 60% of a typical year's precipitation.

And you thought Vancouver was rainy.

Child Email Laws going into Effect 1.Jul.2005

Michegan and Utah passed "Child Protection Registry" laws in 2004 which go into effect the beginning of July this year. Under the laws of both states, a email address registry will be maintained (like the "do not call" lists) of addresses and domains to which a minor may have access. Once on this list, commercial emailers are prohibited from sending anything containing advertising or linking to advertising for products are services that a minor is legally prohibited from accessing. This includes: alcohol, tobacco, gambling, prescription drugs, and adult-rated material. This applies even if the mailing was requested meaning it doesn't just apply to spammers, but legitimate mailers. Worse still you have to match your mailing list against theirs on a monthly basis for a pre-address fee.

I don't know why they couldn't have made this a service paid for by the state, since to expect people sending mail to lists to check two different lists every month is already plenty of extra work. Naturally the testing method has to be careful not to give away the contents of the list to spammers. All in all this screams big brother to me, and I live in a country where there are far more controls (And yet not this one). I'm not thinking it's a bad idea but the law is setup pretty harshly (you have to pay, it's your responsibility, you're on the hook for it). I also see huge issue with linking to advertising... what does that mean? Does that mean if I link to a site that has bad ads I'm in violation? Or does it simply mean if I include links to bad sites (alcohol sites for example) in my email then I'm in violation? To me this is just another reason to use blogs, dynamic sites and RSS feeds instead of sending mass mails.

Top 100 + 100 Forgotten Gadgets

Mobile Magazine put together an interesting article on The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time five months later, after the ire of the readers was raged they've put out a list of the Top 100 Forgotten Gadgets... with some very obvious entries that probably should have been in the first list. Even as a quick 10 minute scan these articles are very interesting.

Gadget rules:
• It has to have electronic and/or moving parts.
• It has to be smaller than the proverbial bread box.
• It has to be a self-contained apparatus that can be used on its own, not a subset of another device. This rule tripped up a lot of people who said that thumbdrives and TV remote controls (both in the original list) shouldn't count. What we meant was that it can't be a device that's contained inside a larger device: Notebooks count, but motherboards, hard drives, and RAM don't.

I'm amused that this Bedazzler makes the list (that which one of the Apprentice contestants went on and on about).

USB Browser, email, linux

So it's now possible to run Firefox (browser), Thunderbird (email) and Linux (OS) from a USB drive. What's the benefit? Well in particular running an email client of your USB drive means you can carry the same account around with you everywhere... download email to it and it's there where you load the programme. Handy eh? :) Beginners Guides: USB Memory Drive Projects

Ultimate Developer and Power User Tools List

An updated list of Scott Hanselman's 2005 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List is available. Some of the utilities in here are awesome. It's mainly geared toward developers... but there's actually a fair bit that even the every day user can appreciate. I suppose you're going to have to be a little bit adventurous to give them a try. Some of the software I've used, some I've heard great things about, some I've been looking for... a fantastic list.

We Want Annie Mac!

Last Thursday Annie Mac's show was replaced by some... well who cares!?!? Why on earth would the best BBC show get replaced by something else?

Annie Mac used to be a broadcast assistant for Zane Lowe... now she runs her own tight ship. If you're wondering who she is you've gotta checkout the next Radio 1 broadcast of her show (Thursday 23.Jun.2005)... anyone can listen through the web.

Why we love Annie...
• She plays awesome tunes, in her own words "anything that gets you moving", which includes house, trance, liquid drum and bass, funk, you name it! While Pete Tong has his essential selection, Annie plays essential tunes. (There's often some overlap, but the songs are so good... who cares?!).
• Every single show (including her very first) has been brilliant.
• Her energy on the show is hard to beat... I listen out-of-sequence usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday (almost an entire week behind)... but the day's so much better after a little Annie aural.
• She sounds hot.... Tilley wants her just from hearing the shows/parts I rush home and make him listen to (generally she accompanies me while I'm at work).
• Those mini-mixes! What an idea.
• She's not afraid to tell a silly/embarrassing story about herself.
• 12 inches of 12s... no matter who you are, it's great trying to figure out how to adjust a tune to play at the right speed... and guess if the contestant did a good job.

This better not happen again.

Applied Minds

Read a very interesting story (Inside Applied Minds) on Wired.com today about... well... Applied Minds. The company sounds awesome, the idea's amazing, the output brilliant. Millhop and myself both have interests in this area.... this is exactly where we'd like to head at some point in our careers. We have some idea's of our own... maybe someday someone at wired will write an article about us too!

CSS Panic

Got yourself in a tight spot with CSS? Have a look at Owen Briggs' CSS Panic Guide. It's a pretty brilliant collection of all things CSS. I'm sure we've covered a large quantity of these links, but there's no harm in reiterating... when you need a solution you want to find it as quickly as possible.

CSS Forms

If you've considered making them, or tried, you'll know it's a lot harder than you first guess due to the rampant difference in assumptions/interpretations from all the browsers. Still here is an example of an excellent layout.

1st extra-solar planet like Earth found

That title's from a news site, with an article by the same name (1st extra-solar planet like Earth found). To me it's a bit of a mouth-full *and* hard to get your head around. So let me break it down for you.

can't touch this

They've found a planet like earth (uh, that is it's solid, and warmish, unlike the other planets in our system which are gaseous and/or cold) in another solar system.

Surely there are an infinite number of monkeys(planets)?
Indeed, but scientists have only just discovered how to detect planets... see the thing about star gazing is starts are bright (they emit light... lets consider them whitish). The thing about planets is their dark (they reflect a little, but you don't have to go far before this is invisible). The thing about space is it's dark. So how can you see dark blobs on dark? Exactly. So yeah, some clever giggery pokery and now they can detect planets.

They said like earth, but...
What where you going to say? It takes less time to orbit its sun than for a cheque to clear? It's true... it's also 7.5 times the size of earth (Baby Ruth compared to Mariah Carey) and a tropical 400-700 degrees (no indication of units, I would assume Celsius, but Kelvin would be preferable).

Well anyway... neat! Who knows what we'll see next? Mayhap they'll figure out a way to detect satellites (natural and artificial).

Recreate the Show desktop shortcut

I learned the key code WIN+D to show the desktop. "This is great", I thought, "I can get rid of this icon in my QuickLaunch". Sadly, I was wrong. I'm so used to having it there, I have to stop and thing everytime instead of madly clicking on the next closest icon (Maxthon browser... the Opera is dead).

And so I thought, "How the fcuk do I recreate that icon?". Not by right clicking on the desktop in explorer and clicking send to desktop (which will just open your desktop folder in a new window... don't waste your time!)... here's how to do it properly:

Recreating the show-desktop shortcut
1. Create a file called Show Desktop.scf in the System or System32 folder (in WINDOWS or WINNT folder).
2. Edit the file and insert the following content:
   

   [Shell]
   Command=2
   IconFile=explorer.exe,3
   [Taskbar]
   Command=ToggleDesktop
   

3. Save that shizzle, now right click on it and click "Send to desktop (create shortcut)"
4. Voila! you should have an all-too-familiar icon on your desktop, just drag it onto your quicklaunch bar, and bob's your uncle (you may need to unlock it first).
5. You can remove the icon from your desktop (since it's quite redundant there).

Video Games Acted

Brilliant! These guys have reenacted various video games in public places... see the looks on innocent bystanders faces. Particularly for the Hitman video... don't know why no one is shocked? Definitely worth checking out the videos at Mega64. I love the Tetris video. I hoped there would be a Pong video... maybe in a future release?

Maxthon

I'm sure I dismissed this browser when first I heard of it since it's based on the IE engine, however it offers several features of -say- Opera and Firefox, and all the typical stuff of IE. The reason I have come back for a second look is that it won second best browser from PC World (behind firefox). I use the later, so I'm interested to see how Maxthon compares.

Add CSS to RSS

I hadn't realized it was possible, but now I look at it, it makes perfect sense. You'll probably be using XSL if you need to do anything advanced, in fact you can combine XSL and CSS if you want... but for the quick and dirty improvement of the way your RSS feed looks have a look at this article on Adding a CSS Stylesheet to your RSS Feed.

Apple Moves to Intel Chips

Well this is a huge story. Apple used to use Motorola chips, then moved on to the IBM PowerPC chips around the mid-nineties, and now... as Steve Jobs confirmed... they're moving to Intel processors.

My take...
Well actually I have lots to say about this. The ramifications are huge, and I'm worried (even as someone who has used a Mac and was indifferent, and who feels there are many "Mac lovers" out there who glaze over it's short comings and nitpick at PCs) this will hurt Mac considerably.

For Intel
Well this can only be brilliant. There have been wars with AMD, and frankly the speed at which Intel managed to get the 32/64 bit system out was horrendous compared to AMD. While AMD has inferior processor speeds (the cycles in the core... I'm just talking numbers) it has many other optimizations that make it comparable to much higher speed Intel processors. It's a ridiculously complicated topic (even as someone with a hardware/processor design background) but long story short... speed is not everything. What this means is the Mac portion of the market will solely rely on Intel processors... while that's not huge, I suspect that Mac will encourage Intel to generate some nifty processors which'll improve the PC world too. Mac has the advantage of being able to say "We're going to be a large quantity of this type of processor... so make it"... the PC vendors out there create an market their machines, but as a PC buyer, you're generally able to pick and choose, so unknown/poorly marketed chips don't get purchased... so they fade away. It's not survival of the fittest, but survival of the better marketed.

Word on the street is this processor move is largely fueled by Hollywood wanting copy protection built in at the processor level (something Intel is working on). I'm sure things like 64 bit processing, dual core processors and the fact Intel is a chip powerhouse are all contributing.

For Apple
Now this concerns me. I'm speaking as a hardware inclined Engineer here... the PowerPC processors are awesome and a huge attraction to picking up a Mac. Mac's reasons are sound... they've been stuck on the same processor architecture for quite some time, while Intel quietly did two major overhauls this year already (once to the 775 layout… which is huge even though it sounds insignificant, then they added extra power saving/cooling features, and in the second step the added the 64bit processing). However... that attraction to the processor is now gone, a Mac will use the same hardware as a PC... soundcard, motherboard, video card, memory, hard drives... there will be little to distinguish. I’m not saying they'll be identical, but there won't be an enormous difference. The two reasons to use a Mac will be OS X, and for design. There are PC makers out there that actually design the PC from scratch (to include things like soundproofing, and high-performance, better cooling)... so Mac hardly has a niche there. These days even consumers can build impressive rigs with the variety and variation of parts.

OS X is a good reason... but it is just a modified Linux. Those who care about that in the PC world probably run one flavour of Linux... for free, and with huge updates in one area approximately every month (which could be argued as instability, but is actually just bug fixing, and usually feature/compatibility adding... you certainly don't need to upgrade, but it's nice to have the option). For example a few months back I ordered SuSE Pro 9.1 the first SuSE to include the 2.6 kernel... recently 9.3 was released with several major changes…. And this is an entire operating system (like Windows going to 2005 edition, or Mac's most recent upgrade I suppose). [latest SuSE Pro]

So what does this mean?
Well it’s good for consumers. I hope Mac doesn't disappear, they make some quality products, but more importantly they make beautiful products. I will probably always have a PC... it’s perfect for those who know what their doing, but the Mac has it's place providing quality equipment without all the research required. For those who use/enjoy Intel chips this can only mean good things are coming.

For you Mathematics, Engineering and Physics geeks

There's a calculator that can handle hundreds of thousands of digits, all you need is a little patients. Unfortunately it's not a full scientific calculator, but then the algorithms to support some of those features would be hell with massive numbers. It can do 1/x, x^2, x^3, Pi, e, %, *, +, - and decimals. Check out Karen's Calculator v1.0.1.

The stupidity of some elevator riders

Yesterday I tried to sneak into my building without being seen by any other tenants. I wasn't up to anything crafty, but I had just got back from White water rafting, horseback riding, and camping on one of the wettest weekends on record (We've had 15% more than the average rainfall for all of June already and it's the 6th). Needless to say, I was wearing damp clothing and not at my best. I cruised up to my appartment without issue then realized I had to return to my car. Damnit!

Never have I seen so many people get into an elevator on a Sunday, maybe it was when the second theatre group got on that things got a little tight. "At least," I thought, "only 80% of the building has seen me". Around the 15th floor someone's body starts to ring with a silly tune. It wasn't as bad as the guy at the dentist last week that had a clucking chicken ring, but it wasn't the sexiest ringtone either. He answers the phone, with the volume of a circus ringmaster and after attempting to have a conversation for several words says "Can you call me back in a few minutes, I'm in an elevator".

Why couldn't he have just not answered and called back after exiting the elevator? Is there some hidden etiquette I don't know about that specifies you must answer the phone if it rings to not be rude? Even if that means being rude to an elevator full of people who do not wish to hear you yell the same thing everyone does when on a cell in an elevator that gets the reception of a fallout bunker? What the hell is the point of answering the phone to tell someone it's terribly inconvinient to answer the phone right now and could they call back? If he's rock climbing, would he stop and answer his phone and then ask them to call back after he's hit the ground and recovered?

The real noggin bender is if someone else in the elevator called him should he answer the phone not to be rude, or not answer the phone not to be rude?

Visual Studio Dev Tools

This blog by a MS employee includes several killer dev tools to help you in your visual studio work. Definitely worth a look: Shared Source - More Dev Toys.

CrossFader

Microsoft has put together Crossfader.com for electronic artists; those that use a PC to generate or mix music. Eric Schmidt of Microsoft, and Darek Mazzone a prominent DJ in Seattle are lining up musicians and setting up the community. Definitely worth checking out if you use, or want to use your computer to make/aid in making music.

Transparent Custom boarders in CSS... with standard code

Brilliant!
Have you ever wanted to make CSS box with rounded corners? Or maybe a drop-down shadow? Yeah there are hundreds of potential border types you might consider using on the web, and then can't 'cause CSS doesn't quite support it. Well this method allows you to write a clean XHTML page, with a clean CSS sheet (Except for some IE exceptions). A javascript then loads up the extra pieces needed to make your custom border. What does that mean? People without Javascript enabled will see the CSS styled version, people without CSS will see the standard version (nothing can help these types), put people with both will see it the way you want it. Have a look at Transparent custom corners and borders at 456 Berea Street.

PHP On the fly

So you're developing PHP, or working with some PHP and you want to test some code quickly. Maybe you're learning PHP? There's this handy little programme called PHP Interactive which'll allow you to type in some code and see the output right away. It's in itself a PHP script that needs to sit on a computer that has PHP installed... but other than that it could be quite handy.

RSS: Worth a Read

http://forevergeek.com/index.xml (http://forevergeek.com/)
http://www.wired.com/news/feeds/rss2/0,2610,,00.xml (http://www.wired.com/)

Incompetence

Just finished one of the funniest books ever (Incompetence)... it's right up there with Red Dwarf books (a suspiciously similar author, although according to the back that was Mark Twain) and Douglas Adams. This book will probably kill you with laughing fits. Just buy it and read it, it's just brilliant.

Opera 8 Freezing

I've been using Opera 8 since the day it was released, and in many ways it's the best browser I've ever used. However, I have an issue with it freezing every so often. I've since discovered if I have the system processes tab open that it's taking 100% of the available processor during those freezes (it affects my whole system).

After doing some searches on the web, I found Sylvie Noël (doing HCI research) has had a similar issue but it didn't just start for her with the install of version 8.

Further searching on the web (and first I had to exclude the word swim 'cause of all the hype about the CEO going for a swim in freezing waters) I found some people attributed it to subscribing to RSS feeds. I've dutifully removed the two feeds I had setup, and I must admit there is an improvement.

I also thought I saw a correlation between the ads and the slowdowns, so I switch from "generic" to the "targeted" ads... which again has show a performance boost... at least initially. It got to the point earlier today, where I couldn't go 30 seconds without another painfully slow freeze. Now it still does it but they're much further apart, and if I don't "rock the boat" (changing windows etc) it seems relatively stable.

I also read someone's suggestion that the Java Virtual Machine will 'cause a slowdown on initial load. While this is likely in opening additional browser windows etc, I thought I'd disable that. (No improvement)

At a guess I'd say this is a memory management issue. It might be related to some website blocking (through websense or another service) that the company applies to our connections, or it might simply be badly written software.

Sadly I'm beginning to believe the last point is most likely... whether or not this issue will be fixed (I've eagerly checked for patches for the last week now) Opera 7.54 ...while randomly crashing (once every -say- 12 days)... didn't have this issue, so I assume it's related to the "upgrade". As I get more into CMS (for this site for example) the lack of support for a mode that both IE and Firefox support (Contenteditable/Midas) to allow you to create a javascript based WYSIWYG editor is also frustrating (more info here).

All in all folks, as Peter Bowyer said (10.May.2005): Opera lover concedes defeat. I either <unlikely>go back to version 7.54</unlikely> until the freezing is cleared, or <morelikely>move on to Firefox</morelikely> since most of the annoying CSS implementations issues I had with Mozilla are now the same in Opera.

*sigh*

html wysiwyg editor

http://www.fckeditor.net/

Pirated Sites

Ever seen a sight that looks strangely like another site? Ever read a site that has exactly the same content as another site? Piracy is out there on the web... it's all to easy for someone to rip of huge portions of a site and post it as their own content... fortunately there are some places where you can post these findings... the original author and pirate will find out about it, and public opinion will be set. Have a look at pirated-sites.com.

Share your screen

If you've worked in the IT world, then you've probably already had to do this in some regard: collaborate with someone many miles away. Either I'm working through some technical aspects with a friend at the other end of Calgary, or a vendor is tweaking their install from Houston, or I simply need to train people on how to use a product. Now companies will have likely have "standards" (ie someone got treated nicely by a vendor and so that product we are told to use) but as an individual or small business you'll need to find your own application. That's where this very hand list of Screen Sharing Tools For The Rest Of Us: Affordable And Easy-To-Use comes in. Go on... take a peek!

Remove a listing from google

If you've changed the layout of your site then you might have removed some pages that are indexed and happily showing up in Google results. You have a few options, including a nice 404 handling system that attempts to redirect the user based on where they were going (lots of work), a simple 404 system, hoping that they will put the effort in to find what they think they where looking for, or google's page: Remove your URL or Google Groups Post.

Brilliant

Not only is the concept brilliant: Pi to one MILLION decimal places
but the domain name (and sub domain of 3) is totally awesome... pi to 63 places, which is the maximum a domain name can be
http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com/

The Joy of Stationary

While perusing my local Grand and Toy (such a strange name don't you think?) I suddenly realized how... pleasurable the right piece of stationary can be. Scratch that, it can be wrong and still great.

Take a pleasantly yellow post-it-note... so simple and yet its square bright geometry bring chaos and order at the same time. Take the perfect width binder... that is anything that isn't 1"; the 1/2" binder, or the 3" binder... where the content nicely fills, isn't over stuffed or under utilized. Take a well made stapler (red of course), assured to staple every time rather than turn a staple into a piece of Dali-inspired metalwork... so satisfying it is to punch metal through wood and then bend, that you start to find things to unnecessarily staple together, including a new form of origami which includes a staple at every step.

The Pièce de résistance is of course a brand new Rubber.. yeah I said it. It's such a taboo word for an eraser in Canada, and yet I've never heard anyone using the word rubber in any other context except for the burning kind... since this fails to illicit giggles, I wonder why we can't just give up snickering at the English's use, and adopt it ourselves.

Yes, stationary can be very pleasing to have and hold.

A note to Grand and Toy: Your catalogue is very hard/painful to navigate... I choose binder, then type (economy or something else) then ring type (D or O) and then finally I get a list... surely there's a way with way less clicking that I could achieve the same result? There is something out there called the 3 click rule after all.

Content with style!

What a concept. Alright enough of the mocking, first bizwarcho had the style, now it has the content... soon it should have both. But more to the point, this website (Content With Style) has a pile articles, idea's and information on how to separate the two and create websites with ease, and good data separation. If this is all gibberish to you, stay in the web design world for a couple of years and then check again... suddenly you'll see a holy grail in all this

How to write unmaintainable code

I'm sure I don't subscribe to this procedure, since a lot of the code I write is by myself (for myself), will likely never be maintained (rewrite is usually the way), or to be shared with other people (in a volunteer type setting). But, some of the techniques in here can be very useful in how not to programme for example... or for a good laugh. Roedy Green has written a very interesting article on How to write unmaintainable code.

It really is quite hilarious. I'm worried millhop or sutibu have something to do with this.

Top 100 Websites

PC Magazine has compiled a list of the top 100 websites, some of them are very interesting... others seem quite boring. Unfortunately the layout is one of the worst I've seen... each site is on a separate page loaded with ads, which makes viewing them very very painful (I've only got through the first 3 before loosing interest). If you have more patience than me, or if I find suddenly find more have a look at the full list.

Boot your USB drive

Word on the street is there's a handy app from HP to turn a USB drive into a bootable drive (have you ever noticed the commend fly by on bootup when you leave the drive plugged in?) It's supposed to be for HP drives, but users have tried it with various other drives with success.

There's probably a way to boot linux off the drive too!

Websense... sucks

What the hell? I'm workin in my somewhat controlled office environment today and looking at pictures of the play station 3... or trying. I read a writeup, and click on the "official pictures" link. I get a page with the titles, but the images haven't loaded. I hit "refresh" and I get websense informing me that this "gaming" area is blocked. For of all this is mis-labeled, gaming would be a bejeweled online, this is news I just want to see photos. I'm allowed to read about news, stocks, weather... but not about a gaming console?

These damn "smart" services are plain stupid. I'm sure this is a human-monitored system, but I suspect the monitors get vindictive in what should and should not show up... it's hard not to get in that situation when you have the power.

*sigh*

Processor Prices (Windows 64 | Price Increases)

After building my killer rig a few months back, Intel has since announced a 64/32bit platform a lot like AMD's, Microsoft has release (finally) Windows 64, and things are starting to look like a 64 bit world.

I did notice a couple of key disclaimers on Windows 64 (Windows XP Professional x64) though:

• Windows 64 cannot be successfully installed on x86 (32-bit) systems (duh)
• Windows 64 cannot be installed on 64-bit Intel Itanium-based systems (sucks to have bought into that short-lived processor)
• 32-bit device drivers are not supported on Windows 64.

That last one is killer. That means that ever piece of hardware in your 64bit system has to have a 64bit driver to run in windows 64. It's going to take some time before this exists! If you have an all in one MotherBoard, it would hopefully come with all the drivers, but as soon as you have any PCI, PCI-X, AGP cards... and possibly even some USB stuff? Well you're SOL. Hopefully within a few months these bases will be covered and people can finally get into a new age of 64 bit processing.

I'm disappointed I didn't get a 64bit processor into my system, but I'm happy with the performance of what I do have... an Intel 540 (3.2GHz / LGA755 / 800Mhz FSB / 1 MB L2 Cache / Hyperthreading). What I find really interesting though is when I was first looking for this processor a few establishments had it on sale for $275. When I actually went to buy it one was out of stock, another had put it's prices up to $310, and a third... well they're the ones I purchased from. For some strange reason I decided to check today (actually I was looking at PIII-1GHz Retail processors) and I've discovered that even the place I bought my processor from has the 540 priced at $315. That's $40 above what I payed... and it's at least 4 months later. Aren't processor prices supposed to go down over time? It certainly makes the 620 (200Mhz slower @ 3.0GHz, but with the 64 bit enhancements) @ $320 look mighty attractive. Maybe that's why... maybe Intel is trying to push people into the 64bit world by a clever pricing scheme.

10, no 14 rules to live by

Just got one of the classic Fake emails about 10 rules to live by attributed to Bill Gates. It has no basis and has been flying around the 'net for many years! The points are still good though:

1. Life is not fair.
2. The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does.
3. Sorry, you won't make lots of income right out of high school.
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss.
5. Flipping burgers (Working Security) is not beneath your dignity.
6. It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible.
7. Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now.
8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn't.
9. Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off.
10. Television is not real life.
11. Be nice to nerds.
12. Smoking does not make you look cool.
13. You are not immortal.
14. Enjoy your youth while you can.

New Canadian Cuss Words.

You toque tax auditor!

Drag & Drop Sortable Lists with JavaScript and CSS

http://tool-man.org/examples/sorting.html

Cherry Garcia

By Ben and Jerry has far less hair in it than I imagined it would. It goes very well with direct sunlight at 20c for lunch.

*Unless of course you're a slow eater.

Snow in May

Yesterday they said "remember your umbrella tomorrow"... for it was to rain. When I first arose screaming from my sleep it was, indeed, raining. As the morning activities commenced, and the screaming subsided the rain turned into snow. Then some fog was thrown into the mix (and no doubt several cars collided with each other as part of the commuter ballet.

So it was +1c, and snowing... a bit gross for may for sure, but still quite warm... and just a bit... damp. It's probably actually better than rain, since there's a 70% chance the snow will just bump off you (although I must confess, it was the sticky kind). So then, why were there people in full snow gear: hats, scarf’s, hoods, puffy down jackets, walking with their head on an angle, screwing up their face like we'd been thrown back into the -35c of January?

I dunno, it seems more trouble than it's worth trying to escape the weather... especially the wet stuff, if you just try and coexist with it (enjoy the moisturizing properties of rain/eat snow as part of your complete breakfast), your life is much less... stressful.

Gigabit ethernet performance

Last night I had the chance, accidentally, to test out the speed of the gigabit piece of my network. First up... it really does seem quicker even surfing which is interesting, this could either be bottleneck related, or possibly by moving from a 1 router to 2 switches + 1 router has improved things (technically switches can run each port pair independently but they still have a maximum throughput they can handle). It's most likely just coincidence, but *meh*... if it feels faster it must be faster.

So I was moving the entire season of Battlestar Galactica from the PVR to the DVD burner... that was 35GB of files. How long did it take? 1818 seconds. (~30 minutes). So it wasn't super speedy. Once you get past the 100Megabit lan, hardware used at all points in the network effect the speed, including pci bus speed, usage of the end computers, switches/routers, network cards, harddrive speeds.

That being said I am happy with the results, you may scoff... here's the hardware I was using:
Hosting Server:
PIII 1Ghz, 512Mb memory, 2x200GB ATA100 in Raid 1, Intel Pro 1000MT NIC
Receiving Server:
P4 3.2Ghz, 1Gb 2-2-2-5 memory, 1x250Gb SATA150, Onboard 1000baseT

Connection:
Cat5e Cable (100+20ft)
ASUS GIGAX11M - 8 Port router (3 ports used, 1 internet gateway)

So what speeds did I effectively get? In gigabits per second (gigabit lan is supposed to manage 1.0) I got a paltry 0.15Gb/s. That doesn't sound that impressive, but moving down to Mb/s (100Mb/s is 100BaseT, fast ethernet, or the next fasted lan speed) that translates into 158Mb/s. As you can see that's 1.6x faster than full speed fast-ethernet (100BaseT). For those who don't live in lala land, I mean networking land... in MB/s that's 19.7MB/s [notice the case of the b... network speeds, like modem speeds, are measured in "bits per second" (lowercase b), most people think of data in "bytes per second" (uppercase B)... your OS and browser etc will all report in Bytes... there are 8 bits in a Byte].

That's almost 20 MegaBytes every second that are getting moved... that's some seriously good speed :)

Obtained speeds: 158Mb/s, 0.15Gb/s, 19.7MB/s

Richmond Green II

Managed to get a second golf game in this week... what luxury! Managed to be late for the Teetime again, this time 3-4 minutes after the 15 minutes before rule (rather than after the tee). We actually had to wait in a starting line, but there were no other people hankering to get on so it was all good. Got out for a round with Matt and Tilley. My game was a fair bit poorer than last time... didn't work out so bad in the long run, but more hooking/slicing this time. 8 tees where hurt in the completing of that game.

Final Talley: 46/27

A weak game, but only 3 more hits total. I did retake 3 shots in the game... I hit 4 trees and a shrub, and played on one hole 3 times (ie while playing another hole I managed to land the ball on my favourite one). I also took 3 shoots where I whacked the ball and it came right back to where I was... damn luck.

The Apprentice (last week: T-Shirts)

So, they had to make T-Shirts. This season has been a weird mix of very interesting tasks, and then trivial ones. Which isn't to say that a well made t-shirt is trivial, but, there are lots of people in the world that have had an opportunity to make a t-shirt of some kind... this isn't some breakthrough-amazing activity (you like that invented hyphenated word?).

Of course there's a twist... they get (fairly well known) artists to actually create the t-shirt, they just have to figure out a design; the main task is to market. For the record... I much preferred the designer (Burton Morris) and design of Tana and Alex's t-shirt.

Out of the two the Rock Star Couture T-shirt was by far my preference... if I was going to buy one, I'd buy that one. Just; drop the rhinestones already (snore) there's so much of that around. I think their price point ($42-$54) was much smarter than the other teams ($25-35) (these are limited editions after all). They fell down on marketing... just like was judged. But that was purely Tana. I don't know how Alex managed to flunk like that, seemingly before the re-entry Tana was on the chopping block, but not a minute after they're back in the boardroom; Alex is looking like the goner. Tana didn't assign marketing, and while the Rhinestones (much as I have no time for) where a good addition; the tasks on this project fell into two (three at a push) categories: design (you do have someone to do this for you, so not super complicated), market (I would say 80% of the task), and sell (insignificant if 1+2 are achieved). Tana failed to assign marketing (and frankly, this wasn't assignable.. this should have been shared by both) and then managed to make it appear as Alex's fault.

So Alex was fired... he shouldn't have been. Tana was definitely weaker... all wrapped up in her own past sales of T-shirts at the Olympics, she wasn't looking at the big picture (you're just trying to sell limited edition art, not your pet project). What's a stinger, is if I was choosing the final three (and at this point I'm not seeing anyone of these chumps as a good apprentice yet, Bill was clear all the way through, and Kelly started to improve towards the end of the season) I would have taken one/both of Kendra/Craig out (I am aware that removing both would make a final 2).

Craig seems more and more like a moron, he doesn't respect Kendra... that's fine, there are lots of people in the world, you can't respect them all (and we don't know the whole story... with the slicing and dicing of TV shows)... however, you still have to work with people you don't respect. His approach to that is unacceptable. This is one of those cases where as a potential employer of Craig I would think... note to self; never employ (this goes for Trump, and this goes for Craig's future work… just like I thought when watching Omarosa). If he can't play nice with others, he can't work in a company. Kendra works very hard when she puts her mind to it, but she can be quite weak too... and she certainly seems like she isn't getting it some of the time... it might just be her expression, but it seems more like she's just a bit clueless.

Which would I fire? Craig first... he frustrated their team and then tried to turn it around on Kendra. They got lucky (alright, they where smart) and got that email out... although, I think it's fair to say they had very weak sales given a far greater market of people that could have come and bought T-Shirts.

Let's talk about Jet Fighters
Uh, Mr Trump... those are what we in the business call props, because they have propellers on them. I dunno if initially those where set to be jets, but he definitely said Jet fighters (I rewound to check) and those where props. More importantly there are parts all over the show where peoples voices are dubbed (there's a slight variance in the echo and timbre of the persons voice, and usually the camera isn't pointing directly at them at the time).. so why not that point? Let's face it though: Jets would have been impractical... way too fast, not so maneuverable, and Kendra/Craig wouldn't have been able to sit beside the main pilot like that. I'm glad Kendra "smoked" Craig... take that ego boy.

Richmond Green

Opened yesterday for the first time this year... it's got to be the last city course to open this year. Went out for a round with Matt... managed to arrive *after* the Tee time (not 15 minutes before) but since there where 2 or 3 other groups on the whole course we got on straight away anyway (phew!) Still learning the new clubs... discovered I play very well with the 7 wood... who knew it would be so useful? Managed to shred 7 tees though, and fire 2 balls outside of the golf course... what the hell? We both believe my drives are getting better... this is a good thing.

Final talley: 43/27 (handicap of 16 is it?)

That's already better than the 50/30 I did last Sunday at Lakeview (first of the year). <excuse>That was however a slightly harder course, and I've never played it before.</excuse>

CSS Image Maps

Very interesting article on creating image maps using CSS and XHTML.

eBooks/Open Format

There's an alarming article (if you publish eBooks) or an interesting article (if you have bought them) on how to convert your DRM protected eBook into an open format (XML, HTML, TXT, PDF) under the theory that the protected format may be useless if the software no longer exists in the future. Not sure how I feel on that as someone who's working with an author to produce an eBook, on the other hand... it's the same as encoding a CD to MP3 format... you're allowed to do that, you're just not allowed to share it. Have a look at Converting e-Books to Open Formats.

Food coma

So much good Indian food with tilley at Mango Shiva.

2:30pm Mojo Monk

With the tilley... it seems we might have a cunning plan, equal to those of Baldrick. More on that soon...

11:40 Oh I'm sure

The hour is up by now... where are there servers? *pain*

9:20am Hurrah! -WACK-

You heard me... this time it was at the file-folder on my desk... minor splashage rather than complete spillage... still this is a sad indication of my retardedness (retiredness?)

8am Server is Down (was if you're reading this)

It's gonna take an hour they say before it's right as rain again.

The 46 Best Freeware Utilities

There are a couple of items I disagree on (how can they have the MS Spyware detector as one of the best?) but The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities provides an excellent list of the best utilities out there, and it's nicely divided by category.

How do i add a non-breaking space to XML?

The XML interpreter can be a little annoying at times... considering two items on different lines to be side by side (no space) on occasion, and a space apart at other times. Eventually it comes down to controlling the display by inserting a non-breaking space... that's a &nbsp; in HTML. But XML doesn't know what nbsp means... well not by default.

Solution 1: Use XML understood code
In XML &#160; (or &#xA0; in hex) means the same thing as &nbsp; in HTML, just use this instead.

Solution 2: Define nbsp
XML does allow you to define things for the current sheet, adding the following to the top of your XML will allow the use &nbsp;... this is perfect where the XML is actually storing XML content and you don't want the parser complaining.

<!DOCTYPE xsl:stylesheet [<!ENTITY nbsp "&#160;">]>

XSLT

Yep, I'm revisiting this... XSLT is quite a brilliant little interface. I can turn a complicated/hard to read XML structure into an easy to read HTML page with internet explorer, and they don't need to be on a server. I apply Javascript and CSS to the sheet to generate what appears to be an interactive content (the wonders of DHTML) brilliant!

In the course of setting up a wonder XSLT document, I found some sites very helpful for reference: DevGuru XSLT, MSDN XML/XPath reference and even W3C XPath description (to some extent).

How to Steal to the Top of Google, part 1

How to Steal to the Top of Google, part 1

OOKO Search

Searching for shareware and freeware can be really hard on Google since companies that make pricey software will throw the word free somewhere into the page. Enter OOKO Search an engine to search just shareware and freeware, trying "virus scanner" (a phrase notoriously useless on google 'cause of all the crap out there) generated a very google-like list so title/description/type (+cost if there is) and platform. Next time I need a specific piece of software I'm sure this'll come in handy.

but... why would I?

So I downloaded Windows Media Player (WMP) 10 the day before last. It's blue. It seems blue is the new silver, with both Opera 8 and Windows Media Player 10 being of blue tints. No wait... I coloured my Opera blue (Tools -> Appearance -> Skin Tab -> Color scheme drop down (shame on them: coloUr) -> Blue. Oh, and the ">Windows Media Player 10 being of blue tints. No wait... I coloured my Opera blue (Tools -> Appearance -> Skin Tab -> Color scheme drop down (shame on them: coloUr) -> Blue. Oh, and the "Opera Standard" skin is highlighted.

I like the feature when you put a CD in the drive the player finds an image of the album art... but why would the player presume to offer the ability to purchase the CD online? Surely if I'm listening to a CD, I likely own it. On the off chance I'm borrowing it from someone... and it's so good that I'm happy to pay an arm and a leg for it (+shipping) to get it from their store? I don't know... it seems senseless. Is this technology helping in life... -or- just because they can?

Mind you following rules of spam... if someone clicks on that link one in a million times then there's a fair bit of money in it for Microsoft... even if some of use get the rage.

Opera 8

Opera 8 is finally out, the servers are being hit hard though so visit a mirror (windows/English: Tucows.com, Download.com, SimTel. Linux: Opera.com)

E

E is for Erection (518)

At work before 8

For one of the first times in an age. This is after yesterday's alarm call failed in all shapes and forms to pull me screaming from my slumber. What's interesting is I can remember my state as I was awoken this morning, complete with in-dream bribary by some character that said "this is a limited time offer, this won't be here when you get back". Talk about reason's not to get up. *sigh*

My brain is sneaky.

I'm sure this can be incorporated into a pickup line

Semen makes women happy: Study

Lego Star Wars: The Game

Lego Star Wars: The Game
"If you love Lego toys, have a tolerance for the Star Wars prequels, enjoy video games, and won't be psychologically scarred by seeing a small plastic figure in childbirth, then this may be the cross-marketing meta-product for you."

... oh I think I need to play this game, except for the small plastic childbirth bit

website design article

... very helpful example for designing a new site http://www.digital-web.com/articles/creating_a_site_design_plan/

How many 12 year olds could you beat up?

A Realistic Assessment Of How Many 12-Year-Olds I Could Beat Up Before They Overtook Me.

Also brilliant: Dan Kennedy Solves Your Problems With Paper | My Apartment: An Interpretive Dance in Three Parts | McSweetneys.net is quite brilliant.

Intel Dual Processors are comming...

It's been talked about for... well at least two years... and finally the dual processor's are coming to a desktop computer near you.

What does this mean?
Well... for a single application, which isn't nicely designed for a multi-threaded environment... not a lot. It'll perform admirably, but not as well as a single high-speed chip... maybe you can see how (there's overhead associated with controlling any hardware). But for any multi-threaded application (read: the ones that have been designed well) you're going to see an instant benefit... the threads can be handled by different processors as needed. However, the real improvement is in the multi-tasking.... anyone who uses a bunch of applications at once... 20 windows open at once sort of thing (ahem) will see a big benefit. Even something as simple as a virus scanner in addition to whatever you're running will be vastly improved.

If the Dell is anything to go by, these processors aren't going to be priced for every user ($4000us)... but maybe in a few years these things will be common place... along with 64bit processing and hydrogen cars.

Rename your recycle bin

Some people just like to customize their 'puter. This was especially important when lots of people actually see your desktop... these days I'm about the only person every looking at the monitor. If you ever wanted to rename the recyclebin to something more... your style (I'm considering "Tilley's room"). These settings involve Registry editing... don't do it. If you choose to do it anyway, it's not my fault...

1. Start -> Run -> "regedit"
2. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ CLSID \ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
3. Right click on "(Default)" and choose "Modify" (or double click)
4. Type in whatever you'd like.
5. Click ok, and exit.
6. Refresh your desktop (Right click -> Refresh / F5)

It's funny 'cause it's true...

Stationery really is bad.

Advertising Accountability

You know when you watch a commercial right... and they claim something... "this moisturizer is proven to improve your skin". I think it would be (a) prudent and maybe (b) should be required that these companies have to provide a link to website (in the commercial) that lists what that proof is, and details of what was done to generate that statement (and who did the tests, and who sponsored it).

It's not that I don't trust them (scoff) it's that it would be easy for them to show such data... and if there is "proof" they should be showing it for any independent or inquisitive individual or organization to evaluate. If the proof is valid it'll only enhance their brand. It would help with publicly traded companies, it would help with brand support, and it would help us decipher the difference between all these claims.

To FTP Serve?

There seem to be a ton of FTP server's out there... TitanFTP seems to have some nice features... more once I've tested it.

A great American beer

I know what you're saying; "American? has tenzwarth lapsed from his European beers?".... well yes. And no.

Tilley and I went out to pickup some bottles of something interesting from our local liquor store. Ever the person to be attracted by silly marketing (neat bottles shapes, something I like about the label, a good name) I choose some Berghoff beer... their Bock to be exact... because it came with a free glass. How can you go wrong with a free glass?? (They're actually really nice pilsner glasses -tall and pretty thin, with a flaring top... a trumpet sort of shape). But the beer! It's a delicious rich flavour... similar (from what I remember) to the Double Chocolate Stout you can get sometimes imported from England. A very delicious brew to say the least. We had to go online to find out how alcoholic it is (bock's tend to be high) ...5.4%... which isn't too strong. Not that it matters... it's delicious either way.

Anyone who likes nice flavourful beers should definitely get out and look for Berghoff at their local store... it's $13/6pk taxes and deposit in Alberta (typical premium/microbrewery price). Take a look at their website too... it's good, nicely designed.

Couple a quicklinks

80x25 button maker (online) - a handy blog-button generator. Do we have the technology?
Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.

The next startrek...

I guess they're throwing together a remake of the original star trek which will be distributed through the internet (rather than on the tv). Strange idea... could be good, but I suspect it'll just disappear into nothingness.

What the hell is that? [Jetta woes]

So there's a new commercial on TV for an ugly looking car... there are these executives, there's this guy, there's death metal on the radio... your standard brainless fare. But what shocked me into actively trying to see the commercial a second time (something I'm usually loath to do) was the hideousness and the brand of the car.

The current model Jetta is one of the nicest cars on the road. Sure it's spoiled by the fact that everyone has one, and some people's dogs even have a matching one, but they're still very... pleasing to look at. Now I find out there's a new Jetta coming, and it's.... beastly. New this model we have a gaudy chrome bar on the front... it's not that clear in the referenced article, have a look at the VW website (flash required) to see it in all its glory on a darker car... oh and turn down your speakers... the site makes blips and whirs. Just look how generic it is! It has the back end of a Toyota Corolla the profile of a Chrysler Sebring(or even Neon?) and the front end not unlike a Honda Civic.

Given the history of the Jetta, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised... the current model (as I'll call it for now) is the only nice one in the set... a classy step up from the last jetta, which was a huge step up from the positively ugly previous model.

For some excellent Jetta-family photos have a look at VWVortex.com, for model research and expected prices have a look at MSN Autos.

Coffee Tycoon

Stumbled across an interesting little game called Coffee Tycoon today.... haven't had a chance to download and play yet, but it looks like it would be quite fun! You all know of Sim and Tycoon games, so I won't bore with details, except that it's 10.65M, a free trial is available (60 minute), and it works on W9x/2K/XP.

Damnit Max where's the mapleleaf?

Sadly I wasn't at the winter music conference in Miami, but I did manage to hear some stuff from there... including an impromptu interview with Max Graham. Now I've always favored MG because in a world of mostly UK and American DJ's this blokey was Canadian... or at least so I thought ... he had a Canadian residency, has grown to fame in Canada (mostly Ottawa, but recently in Vancouver) and he lives here. Imagine my dismay when right there on international radio he says, that while he's lived in Canada more than long enough (10+ years, I don't remember exactly) he's English by passport. What the hell? He didn't bother to get dual citizenship? Or maybe he just doesn't count the Canadian citizenship? Or maybe he just imagined he'd be more popular if he claimed it that way?

Either way... I'm in a very similar situation (Born in England, moved her 10 years ago, have dual citizenship... superstar DJ [lol]) and I've got one thing to say:

Louis Theroux's Wierd weekends

While searching for Simpsons/Wired Magazine cross references I stumbled across the site of one of my absolute favorite information TV presenters: Louis Theroux. Which isn't to say he doesn't do other things of course, but I avidly watched his Weird Weekends while I was in Nigeria (South African Satellite TV don't you know) and I thought the show, premise and blokey where all quite brilliant. If it ever gets planed in your country (back in Canada I haven't seen it yet) I HIGHLY recommend tuning in and having a gander. If you don't like this week's topic wait and see what he has next week... it was highly varied from what I remember (motivational speakers, the porn industry, wrestling, swingers).

In his words: "WEIRD WEEKENDS sets out to discover the genuinely odd in the most ordinary setting. To me, it’s almost a privilege to be welcomed into these communities and to shine a light on them and, maybe, through my enthusiasm, to get people to reveal more of themselves than they may have intended. The show is laughing at me, adrift in their world, as much as at them. I don’t have to play up that stuff. I’m not a matinee idol disguised as a nerd."

Battlestar Galactica: Best Sci-Fi TV Ever

Wired has finally come around to the same conclusion as me (Battlestar Galactica) in an article posted today (Galactica: Best Sci-Fi TV Ever) they give an excellent overview of the show and why everyone and I mean everyone should be watching it. It doesn't matter if you're turned off by sci-fi, or think it'll be cheesey... watch it once and you'll be hooked.

Well anyway, I'm happy Wired has an article... lots of people in the world respect Wired and the knowledge and opinions it forwards... an article like this is bound to get out there. Maybe that Breeze guy John Tesh (good knowledge, bad music) will even watch it and pass on the word.

Mind you, as long as it's getting made I'm happy... if it gets too popular it might loose it's edge.

MS Indigo and Avalon Previews available online.

Microsoft has release Indigo and Avalon technology previews to anyone who wants to download (typically this is restricted to those who are members of MSDN). Indigo is defined (by MS) as "Microsoft’s unified programming model for building connected systems". It piles APIs onto the .NET Framework 2.0 for building secure, reliable, transacted Web services, and Indigo is supposed to cut development time. Avalon is defined as "a unified presentation subsystem, consists of a display engine and a managed-code framework". Avalon is supposed to standardize how Windows creates, displays and manipulates documents, media, and user interface.

You can download the previews from the microsoft website. Longhorn (the new operating system) and these two products are expected to start shipping next year.

The first rule of GoogleFight is...

What a great way to spend Friday... Google fighting Michael Jackson vs. Justice... have a look at the site to pitch any two topics against each other. Some of the classics are... classic. Try vanitying yourself against someone else you know... haha! ('course it only works if you're both unique)

VIM Tips: Tabs, spaces, auto indenting

I use VIM all the time. It started way back in a second year computer course. Debb Stacey said "either you take the extra time to learn VI (or VIM) and you'll use it for the rest of your life or use a simple editor and never know about the joys of VI(M)". Well I took the first option. I'm quite sure it's impossible to learn all the key combos, but I've collected some very useful tips on tabs, spaces, and indenting...

To turn off auto-indenting (some of it is frankly retarded, and it'll start messing around with your pre-indented layout):

To change the tabstop size (I like 2 or 3 when developing):

To use spaces instead of tab-chars when tab is pressed:

To retab a document (update all tab keys from the last command):

To change the number of spaces substitued for a tab character (eg. 2):

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Movie!

On the way out of the theatre last night I noticed that the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie is comming out... and soon! April 29th to be exact... that's a mere 28 days away... woo hoo! I must have been sleeping 'cause I'd completely lost track of this movie and it's intended release date.

Inner Peace

I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me and we all could use more calm in our lives. By the simple advice I heard on a Dr. Phil show, I have found inner peace.

Dr. Phil proclaimed "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you've started." So I looked around my house to see all the things I had started and hadn't finished. Before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, three bottles of scotch, a bottle of Baileys, a bag of coffee, a package of pepper biscuits, the rest of the chocolate coated almonds and the remainders of my Prozac and Valium prescriptions.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel.

Best Drive Imaging Software

I have no experience with drive imaging yet... certainly not as a method of backup (I do what's needed/what I want rather than entire system backups). However if/when I do need such a product infopackets newsletter (The results are in: which Disk Imaging Backup software is best?) recommends Acronis TrueImage (at least the user's that actually use these products recommend it). Worth a peek if you're in the market.

File sharing picks...

There's a worthwhile roundup at PC World to look at titled: Best File Sharing Apps: Download MP3s, Videos. Definitely worth a look. Kazaa used to be my choice, but has a lot of junk, WinMX I've heard good things about, but haven't used yet, Torrents are definitely useful for finding the larger items out there.

PBF Archive

Millhop just referred me to an awesome site of some wacked cartoons... some of it's completely messed up, some of it's brilliant. Check out PBF Archive of particular brilliance... Instant Bacon (you know you've tried it), Penguin Enemy (damnit penguins!), Freaking Vortex (time is a fickle friend), Turtle City (politicians!) and Mermaid Princess... so that's how they're born.

A wealth of windows tweaks

There are so many windows tweaks out there, whether you want to edit the registry/executables/dlls/files directly, or use a programme (like TweakUI) is up to you. If you're considering the former have a look at this Excellent list of Desktop Tips.

[Update] Knowing where your binary is ... VB.NET

In supplement to my post Knowing where your binary is executing at run-time in VB.NET I've discovered the Application object isn't available when you're writing a console application. Further investigation shows microsoft recommends the use of
  System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly.Location
...which you'll then need to strip the executable name of the end.

Hubble photos

If you want actual photos of space from the hubble telescope (and believe me there are some great ones out there) you might want to check out hubblesite.org. Some awesome photos for your wallpaper are available here.

You... Wanted to learn flash?

Maybe you should check out FreeFlashTutorials.com a large chunk of helpful tutorials to get you started.

http://textpattern.com/

blogging competition software... try and match features.

Advice on phrasing in Resumes

Excellent short article on TechReplublic about choosing your words and phrases when creating your resume.... I've never really subscribed to the buzzword-loading technique... if for no other reason than I've seen a ton of resumes like that and I'm immediately suspicious of anyone who does it. Still there are some helpful pointers in here that anyone can use.

How Google Does it

A fascinating read on the philosophy and some of the technology behind google.

Intel PC Mini?

Intel has prototyped a mini pc rather similar to the mac one recently released. Original? No. But a good idea none the less... Mac has the innovation, but less expensive is better for the final users. Have a look at the CNET News article for more information.

For those who know [CSS]

If you've started web designing, you've probably already heard about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)... and you probably have a pretty firm grip on how to use them. I use Bradbury's Topstyle on occasion for creating the sheets. I've just discovered The CSS Vault which has some absolutely beautiful designs in it, perfect for getting solutions to tricky problems, and inspiration for your next design.

Print-Screen in Windows XP

Maybe you've gone and got custom computer software for this, but did you know you can (a) capture your entire screen and (b) capture the active window by default in Windows XP? Brilliant eh? You need to know our super secret key combinations, *and* be able to paste the data into something.

Capture Screen:
1. Press Print Scrn key.
2. Open a graphics package (Paint, Photoshop, Paintshop Pro for example) or anything that'll accept a graphic (Word is a popular choice in offices) and click the paste button (CTRL-V is the keyboard shortcut).
3. Save/print/alter the image as you see fit.

Capture the Active Window:
1. Press ALT + Print Scrn key.
2. Open a graphics package (Paint, Photoshop, Paintshop Pro for example) or anything that'll accept a graphic (Word is a popular choice in offices) and click the paste button (CTRL-V is the keyboard shortcut).
3. Save/print/alter the image as you see fit.

One Bag

Whether it's a short business trip, or a month international romp... to be able to travel with a single carry-on bag has many advantages. But is it possible to carry enough clothing and supplies in said bag? One Bag is an excellent resource for the art and science of traveling light. An excellent resource for your next trip (I can see it applying to motorcycle trips too).

Knight Bill

Bill gates is going to be Knighted. Knighted! Can you believe it? He won't be Sir Bill, 'cause he's not English, but he's still going to be a Knight Commanded of the British Empire.

Intel Launches dual 32/64bit processors

Intel has finally announced the launching of dual-64 bit processors (like AMD64 bit systems). They offer several improvements over the old processors... less power usage, less heat generated (these two are usually related), 64 bit support, twice the L2 Cache (a whooping 2MB). Basically, if you're building a new system you're gonna want the 64bit version (my opinion of course). I just finished building my system 3 weeks ago so I might just be a little bit bitter that this information couldn't have been released -say- a month back? Back when Intel was talking about a price drop in Canada *sigh*.

Such is the way with computing right? It's not like my system isn't kickass :)

For a most excellent review and comparison of the 600series, 500series and AMD64 chips visit The Tech Report.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndronwllllantysiliogogogoch

You heard me :)

Free Remote Access Software for Linux

Tarantella has decided to give away single-user licenses for it's Secure Global Desktop Enterprise Edition 4 product. The software runs on RedHat, Fedora, SuSE and Solaris servers. All you need on the client side is Java and a web browser. Visit http://www.tarantella.com/products/ee/singleuser.html to get your single user license and software. I highly recommend the installation PDF for help setting up the first time(s). Naturally there are purchasable multi-license option for those who are interested (not sure why you're reading my blog though).

Bayesian Theory

Bayesian Theory seems like it would be very handy in developing the new game by tilley & tenzwarth. We're working quite high hours to get an excitting, witty online game going for all those who wish to waste time on the net. [Online Evaluator]

Battlestar Galactica

I know it's horrendously geeky, but I was intrigued by the initial previews of the Battlestar Galactica miniseries. I'm not sure when it came out... Fall 2004 approximately, but the two part mini-series setup the Battlestar Galactica universe from scratch again, this time without the 70's haircuts.

I saw the [original] movie, I watched some of the original show... if I had to sum it up with one word I'd use hokey (without the cokey!) Such was the way with sci-fi shows of the era (do you remember the star wars haircuts?) but still... it seems short-sighted. As I read once "if they're so advanced, why would they fall victim to 70's hairstyles again?". [actually it was the other way round, for it was in reference to starwars which was supposedly a long, long time ago].

If I had to sum up the new Battlestar... well gripping, wrenching, dramatic, spectacular all fit the bill. I suppose if you really want a one word review I'd use spectacular. This show is harsh, but look at the circumstances... humans built cylons (but not Garkfunkels) [robots or cyborgs so far it's hazy] and then made them work for them. Eventually the cylons revolted and there was much waring. But then they seem to have disappeared... the war is over... yay. Suddenly the cyclons return and nuke all the human planets... leaving one battlestar (the Galactica) and a few civilian ships floating around space with nowhere to go (but an abundance of flawed people, attitude and stoggies).

These are harsh times. No one has it easy, nothing is really the same (family and loved ones where on those planets). The future of the human race is wrapped up with the few people floating around in space. On top of this macro story, we have several micro stories, including a doctor who betrayed humanity, but was tricked (sort of), the leader of the armed forces and his son, and his lost son, and the almost-wife of, and a president who has cancer and used to be the secretary of education. Desperate times, interesting adventures, relationships, special effects, engaging soundtrack. It's brilliant.

Brilliant.

What is the fastest web browser?

A lot of companies claim to have a fast web browser. I'm not well versed with the Mac ones, but on both Linux and Windows I've used most of the browsers out there, my picks are Opera for windows and Konqueror for Linux... but how do they compare on speed with the other browsers? I'm not talking outrageous marketing claims... I'm talking about impartial parallel testing.

Opera wins... when is this 8.0 version coming though?? :)

Frequently Used Programmes

In XP, if you have it setup, there's a somewhat handy feature where the frequently used programmes show up in the first menu to appear. This allows you to easily start them up again. However what if a programme you use all the time (say... a virus scanner) keeps showing up in there and you don't need it to/want it to? How about a little registry editing to stop that?

1. Start -> Run -> regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\[application directory]
3. Add a new string value named NoStartPage
4. Close the registry editor... your programmes will now not be listed

Solaris 10 for free

In an interesting news announcement Sun will be releasing Solaris 10 to download and deploy for free.... an interesting move given it's trying to compete with the many forms of unix out there now being provided by other big-name vendors.

Speeding up Firefox

There are several adjustments that you can make to pre-packaged Firefox to make it faster for your browsing. The following settings allow you to download page parts simultaneously rather than one after the other (therefore rendering a page at higher speed)

• Open firefox
• As the URL enter: about:config
• Type network.http into the "filter" function to find:
  network.http.pipelining
  network.http.proxy.pipelining
  network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

You want the first two to be true, and the third to be something like 8 (the maximum). Your mileage will (naturally) vary, depending on your connection speed etc. You think this tip is good? Have a look at the huge list of firefox tunning tweaks at MozillaZine.

A solution to your spam woes

Immigrant Laborers Hired To Delete Spam

Superbowl Ads

You're gonna have to put up with some ads (ironically) on the website, but check out the Superbowl US-ads that we all missed while mostly junk local ones where played.

Stock.XCHNG (free stock photography)

Purchasing photographs can be really expensive. Most photographers wish to retain the rights to their photos and "lease" you the ability to use them. This allows them to constantly make money of the picture... good for them, bad for you. If you're throwing together a club flier, a brocher, a website, a paper, or maybe a company document where a generic photo with the right basis will surfice (one that anyone else can use don't forget) then the Stock.XCHNG is a great place to start. Over 11,000 photos are up for the taking at this point.

Don't just take; contribute, this site allows you to upload your one photos for others to use.

Webs Biggest

There's a new search engin in town, websbiggest.com. It's worthwhile noting for future searches, but have I lost my desire to use google? Nope. What I did like is the more refined results, screen captures and reviews this site can potentially offer (however one screen capture was 5 years out of date).

Enterprise Cancelled

I don't know if sutibu will blog about this (since he just told me) but Startrek: Enterprise has been cancelled. This, it's fourth season will be it's last with the season finalé being 13.May.2005. I don't know how I feel about this, quite a large portion of this season was crap... but some of the episodes where quite brilliant (superior to Voyager, most of TNG, and the parts of DS9 that weren't about those people... attacking... they where evil (remember?)).

And Lisa says beer kills brain cells.

Crossing Jordan

Here we have a pretty decent crime (solving) show with quite interesting characters. Jordan (the main character) seems to be far from perfect, which makes a nice change from most of the hero/heroine characters. There are plenty of other interesting people at their office too. Quite an enjoyable watch for those who like these kind of shows (maybe you're sick of 200 CSI's a week?).

Crossing Jordan A&E 9pm Lots of nights (Alberta)
KHQ 9pm Wednesday night (Alberta)

AMD 64 3200 s393 vs Intel 540 (3.2Ghz P4 LGA775)

In building a new system I came across the age old question: AMD or Intel. I've always had Intel processors, and had little respect for AMD (sure they compare, but historically they weren't as good, and they ran much hotter). Times have changed; AMD now offers more than Intel: 64bit support, cooler processors, better performance on games

Final Answer:Intel 540

Winter Wonderland

Well that was three weeks of spring weather, the snow had almost completely gone, the roads where dry. Today... it's snowing, there's freezing fog. It's -5c outside. I mean it's far from bad (that's for Sunday... -17c) but already I miss the balmy weather we've been having.

In other news, apparently all the commuters forgot how to drive in winter conditions this morning.

Knowing where your binary is executing at run-time in VB.NET

You write some code for a programme, you compile it. You decide that some of the setup information should be stored outside the programme (so you don't need to recompile on updates) so you create a settings file. Maybe it's an XML file... but either way you want it to sit in the same directory as the executable (binary/assembly/program)... but when a user runs the programme they click a shortcut.

BAM

Your system just can't handle this. Running the programme from a different location reports the programme is running in that location. At least it was for me through the method I was using. I ended up finding a work around (I'm workin in a standardized environment).

It sounds silly or simplistic to do, but what if you want to know the executing version and -say- compare it to one stored in a library that could potentially be newer? The Application object. Application.ProductVersion is the same as FileVersionInfo.GetVersionInfo($exename).FileVersion. How about knowning where the actual exe is running from? (Rather then where it's called from)... Application.StartupPath for the directory, or Application.ExecutablePath for the binary name too (just incase it could be running from any number of places within that directory.

Now finally I can check for a file sitting with the executable by doing a

Wow, Spiderman & Lego together again

Spider Man 2 ... the movie... the animation

Time Synchronization Settings in Windows (2000/XP)

My computer is starting to get old. It might be a failing bios battery (note to self, replace BIOS battery) or it might be it was never that good at keeping time, but these days it's looses a couple of minutes every 48hours. This might not seem significant if it wasn't for the fact it's now my PVR... used to record tons of shows everyday. A quick chat (computer chat that is, not a phone call) to a time server corrects it's time, but the default period on this is 1 week... by then I'm gonna be 7 minutes off! So I've found out the registry settings to change the interval between synchronizations.

1. Start -> Run -> "regedit"
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ W32Time \ Parameters
3. Options:
   • NtpServer REG_SZ The time source server (NTP server), this can be a DNS name or IP address. This is usually set by windows settings, but you can customize as you see fit (try looking up a more local time server).
   • Period REG_DWORD How frequently the time should be synchronized (my setting!) values:
     0 - Daily
     65535 - Every two days
     65534 - Every three days
     65533 - Every week (default)
     65532 - Every 45 minutes until 3 good syncronizations occur, then every 8 hours
     65531 - Every 45 minutes until 1 good sync. occurs, then every day.
   • ReliableTimeSource REG_DWORD Whether this computer has reliable time, this is only good for domain controllers (0=no, 1=yes).
   • Type REG_SZ How the computer syncronizes... Nt5DS to domain hierarchy, NTP to a manually configured source (default), NoSync don't syncronize.
4. Exit regedit
5. Start -> [Settings ->] Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
6. Find "Windows Time" or "W32Time", right click and click "Restart"
7. Exit control panel & services screens

Could Not Open Macro Storage

Trying to setup an ASP page to open a word document and pull out some of its contents. It's not as easy as you might imagine. Anyway, the first thing I'm struggling with is the error message:

Microsoft Word (0x800A175D)
Could not open macro storage.
/word/Default.asp, line 6

Some research has led me to a security setting in the dcom server on your 'puter

1. Start -> Run -> "dcomcnfg"
2. Console Root \ Component Services \ Computers \ My Computer \ DCOM Config \ Microsoft Word Document
3. Right click -> Properties
4. Security Tab
5. Customize the "Access Permissions" and Edit
6. Add the internet user account "IUSR_" + machine name and allow Local and Remote access
7. Click OK, Apply, Ok
This apparently solves the issues in many cases (sadly not for me here)

Related articles:
Spell Check a String with ASP and Microsoft Word Automation
How to configure Office applications to run under a specific user account

Prevent some options in Windows

Maybe you have an anoying user who insists on moving your stuff around (a different profile for them might be a good idea) or maybe you'd just rather have somethings locked down, either way there are some settings you should know about. They'll even let you set who Internet Explorer is brought to you by :) This time we're using gpedit.msc (the group policy editor).

1. Start -> Run
2. gpedit.msc
3. User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Start Menu and Taskbar
4. Double click on "Prevent changes to the Taskbar and Start menu Settings"
5. Check enable
To change other settings explore around... be careful though, you could harm your computer and stop it operating correctly (blame society)