Tech

CubeTube – Power work are from ambient light!

Thinker — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:50:56 GMT

Here is a different take on powering those workstations. Add these to your cubical at work and power your computer and other electrical devices from the ambient light in the room. If the power goes below what is needed, it just kicks in the power from the regular power grid.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1554054/cubetube-generates-power-from-the-fluorescent-lights-above-your-cubicle

Backup or Move Mozilla settings and data easily!

Thinker — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:53:00 GMT

The day had come, it was time to move to Windows 7 along with all that reinstalling of applications and migrating your data to the new install. Well, life got a lot easier for me for a few items at least!

Several years ago, I got tired of all the hassles of moving data around with Microsoft Outlook files (account settings and passwords and all that stuff, have over 30 email accounts setup) and moved to Mozilla Thunderbird as it only took a copying a couple files and everything but my passwords moved over. Today, I was worried if I could remember all those passwords and dreaded the hassle of entering them. Then I found a simple little utility MozBackup:

http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

With this app, it will make a backup of Thunderbird files and settings as well as other Mozilla apps such as Firefox. It simply packages up your data, settings and passwords into one data file (which you can password protect) which you simply copy to the new machine and use MozBackup to restore those profiles on your new machine.

Defrag?

Thinker — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:28:49 GMT

Are you tired of the built in defrag tool for Windows? I needed to shrink a drive today and took a quick look for a defragger as I had not even been using the built in one. Well, I came across one that seems to work pretty well and it is free! It is from a company named Auslogics:

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag

They have some other tools (try the products tab on their site) I might look into also. They have one called BoostSpeed that might be intersting..

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/boost-speed

Playing with Kubuntu Linux..

Thinker — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:12:21 GMT

I am looking to see if I can get by with a version of Linux on a few of my machines. One of the first versions I tried is Kubuntu Linux. To make my life easier, I used the VMWare Virtual Appliances which made life easy (you will find all you need at http://www.vmware.com).

One of my main concerns is a few Windows programs that will be needed. So I dug through and found how utterly simple it was to install WINE, a Windows emulator, and then installed one of the program I use all the time, E-Sword Bible software. After I figured out where it installed the program and how WINE works, I found there was a problem in the E-Sword display along with a missing DLL. After a quick search of the Internet, I ran into this page which got the program running:

http://www.gustason.com/?p=12

While I have not tried many things on Linux and WINE yet, it was nice to see this app work as it is supposed to work!

More fun with Kubuntu soon.

Electrict Datsun LIve – White Zombie!

Thinker — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:33:38 GMT

hat a way to go! Check out this video:

http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/videos/view/56-Electric-Drag-Racing

Netflix coming straight to HDTV!

Thinker — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:17:20 GMT

I am wondering when the other movie rental companies will wake up and get on the ball. At this time, it looks like a Netflix world.

LG and Netflix announced they are working together to bring new HDTVs from LG which you simply hookup to your Internet and you have streaming HD movies. It is all built in, no boxes to handle the streaming!

With all the rush that is going on with set top boxes for VOD (video-on-demand), I would if there will be a standard coming out any time soon that will allow these devices to work with all VOD providers that would support the standard. Sure would be a pain to buy an HDTV which supports Netflix and then decide later you want Blockbuster’s services. I imagine, in time…

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/05/technology/netflix_lg_electronics/?postversion=2009010512

Interesting physics toy..

Thinker — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:03:39 GMT

Say this posted today on lounge forums on CodeProject:

http://andyslife.org/games/sand.php

Simply select your material from the list below and then drag around the screen. For example, select “Wax” and then drag it around. After it collects some stuff, then place some fire under the wax. Yep, it melts :)

Warning, be sure you do not have any deadlines before entering the site :)

Blockbuster gets into the set-top box market!

Thinker — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:20:51 GMT

Late comer to the set-top box market is Blockbuster. Netflix has been on the scene for while now which may have been eating into Blockbuster’s profits in more than one way.

Blockbuster’s new set-top box and service through MediaPoint will charge you $99 for the box which will include 25 movie rentals. Here is a “gotcha”, unlike Netflix’s subscription based viewing where you play a small rate each month (lowest at the moment to have access to online media and even includes one DVD out in the mail at a time, is only $8.99 per month), Blockbuster’s high prices will continue as you will be charged $1.99 to $3.99 for each movie you watch (OOOUUCCCHH!).

One the box end of Blockbuster, they will pre-download movies to the box (which has the capacity to hold five movies) compared to Netflix’s streaming method. Netflix’s method, while common, is dependant on bandwidth, if you have a big broadband pipe you will get better quality than those with a lesser bandwidth pipe. Blockbuster’s model will result in a better quality service for those with smaller pipes or poor connections. I personally like the model of pre-downloading for quality sake. My Internet provider, Charter Communications, seems to often over-sale their bandwidth causing unreliable connections. In the last month and a half we have experienced many dropped connections and missed connections (obvious when you hit a page and it responds with “404 not found” when the site is there and simply refreshing brings it up or when you have a continuous connection such as “Remote Desktop Connections” and it keeps dropping connection). This is the second time in three years we have went through this issue of quality and previously it lasted for several months). I wish Netflix would move more into this model, but there may be issues with digital rights management.

How does the libraries compare? Well, Blockbuster is offering around 2,500 titles. Netflix on the other hand has a collection of OVER 12,000 titles and have made a deal with Stars to broadcast Starz along with thousands of their titles and you have access to all those for only a flat fee of $8.99 per month. Not only can you use the set-top box options which Netflix has several options including through your TiVo or xBox 360, but you can watch them on your PC or Mac through your browser thanks to Microsoft Silverlight technology!

So, if you wish to have a possible higher quality picture or perhaps do not plan to use the service often, then you might check out Blockbuster and pay a couple of dollars per movie, otherwise, you might check out Netflix (also, Netflix has a good selection of Christians movies and documentaries).

Keep on your toes – Process Monitor V2.02

Thinker — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:25:39 GMT

In today’s world it can be important to keep an eye out for what is going on behind the scene on your computer. Windows Sysinternals Process Monitor V2.02 has evolved into a must have utility!

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

The title Process Monitor really does not convey the functionality of this tool. It does not just monitor processes, it allows you to monitor:

Processes and thread activity
Profiling events
File system activity
Registry activity
Network activity

All of this with filtering ability to zero in on a target. It is a mature product and comes with many useful features.

Give it a test spin and see what it can do for you. Just turning on the network monitor and watching what all processes in your computer are communicating over the network can be revealing. Got a trojan house app on your machine? This will not only show you when it communicates over the net, but also your are able to track down what processes and threads it has, watch registry settings it is using and where it is located on your drive.

Electric Paper – making a new spread!

Thinker — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:29:42 GMT

It seems Plastic Logic has shown a demo this fall of their new Plastic Logic Reader, which is a tablet which uses Electric Paper (some refer to as electric ink) which is a monochrome display which is lightweight, flexible and low power. Here is a little more on their new reader:

Would be nice to have, but sure would great to have color!

http://www.plasticlogic.com/product.html

Internet Explorer 8 – Beta 2 / Cool Stuff

Thinker — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:34:43 GMT

Somehow I have managed to skip the earlier betas of IE8, but yesterday I decided to give it a shot. While the toolbars a little tacky compared to Vista’s styling, the overall impression is no hardship over IE7. The download package of IE 8 Beta 2 comes with both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions (for those running Vista 64 or XP 64):

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/worldwide-sites.aspx?icid=ie8_asdf123

I did read the release notes and it said that this version of IE was incompatible with Netflix Instant Viewing of movies, but on my Vista 64 it worked fine. You can always remove it if you have problems.

New Tab

When you click to open a new tab, it now has options for you instead of just showing a blank page:

As you can see from the image (click on it to enlarge), you now have options for that page such as “reopen closed tabs” which shows a list sites you have recently closed in another tab and even an option to reopen the sites you last had open when you closed IE, which is great if you ever close the browser by accident :)

Tab Grouping

An interesting feature they have added is “Tab Grouping”:

Tab Grouping simply highlights the tabs that you have launched of a a page. That is, if you are on a tab and open a link into a new tab (hold down CTRL and click a link on a page) it will be highlighted with the same color of tab as the parent. However, if you manually drag that tab to a new position on the bar, it will lose its grouping color. It would have been better to have tab grouping such as Vista where it would have them in one tab with a drop-down list.

Searching Updated

Back when Vista Beta came out, I switched back to using IE instead of Firefox. It had enough features for me along with having a decent RSS feed reader built it thus eliminating the need for an additional program (hassle to maintain, I am browsing, RSS feed browsing complements the experience).

When I made the switch, I hated the quick search box in the upper right of the IE frame as it appeared to be just wasted space to me, that is until I started using it and adding providers (tip, if you do not have answers.com added under that list, visit the site and then select to add that provide, VERY handy to have around). I spend a lot of my time in that box now and seldom go to a search engine directly anymore.

In this new version of IE, there have been some major upgrades to the search box:

As you can see, it now provides suggestions from the currently selected search engine, based on what you have typed at that point along with a selection of links that might apply from your past browsing history. Also note that along the bottom of the drop-down menu is a list of icons show the various search providers you have installed to easily switch to a different engine.

Address Box

Similar changes have been made to the address box (where you type in a URL) although it does not appear to be based on the currently selected search engine:

This also adds possible matching or related links from your Favorites links. There is also a reminder at the bottom of the keyboard shortcuts you can use one what you have typed so far.

Developer Tools

Also included in this version is an enhanced version of the IE Developer’s Toolbar:

The functionality of this tool if far beyond the scope of this post, but a few features really seemed to jump out there. First if the “Document Mode” drop-down that allows you to select IE 7, IE 8 and Quirks mode. By changing this, the current window in IE will be changed to represent that document mode. This can even be handy for those that are not technical, when the page they are visiting does not display properly. Next to this feature is the Browser Mode which is similar functionality.

This tool also has a “pinned’" mode that embeds itself to the bottom of your browser window instead of being shown as a separate window (as above). I personally like the separate window mode myself.

While there are a lot of other features in this new version along with enhancements to the rendering engine, the above features were what caught my attention. Microsoft is clearly heading in the right direction!

Get your TV shows via the Internet!

Thinker — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:33:58 GMT

What's on TV tonight? No need to look to a limited cable, satellite or broadcast, why not pull your shows through the Internet? Your choice, many free or small monthly fee!

Netflix has for some time now, offered unlimited streaming video for a low monthly fee (currently only $8.99 per month unlimited online viewing and includes having one DVD out at a time via the mail). Recently they made a deal with Starz! to offer much more content. It is only the beginning though, expect to see more deals and more content coming down the road.

If you want to watch your shows for free but with commercials, you can look into Hulu. They allow you to watch many full length shows anywhere from “Chuck” or “The Fringe” down to “Woody Woodpecker” or “Alf”. All free, but you have to put up with some advertisements.

There are others in the market also, but the new guy on the block appears to be Google with YouTube, which has announced they will soon begin delivering full length shows with advertisements through their network. For more information their announcement:

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN1037791320081010?rpc=44

Choices keep coming and within another year or two, I wonder how many people will have cable, satellite or antennas for entertainment.. It seems we are heading for one large pipe coming in to bring Internet and all other services running through that pipe. One monthly bill with make life a bit easier ;)

Browser Wars – IE lost – Firefox rising..

Thinker — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:58:13 GMT

It has been a number of months since I checked into browser stats. After doing the rounds of my sites and found IE is slipping fast and Firefox is closing in on the leading browser. Here are the stats from one of my non-Microsoft centric sites:

55.45 %	IE
37.13 %	Firefox
3.08 %	Chrome
2.32 %	Safari
1.44 %	Opera

That is a big shift from the past where IE had 85% of the market. While Firefox has moved to be the real contender to IE, it is worth noting how in only being available for about a month, Google’s Chrome has already supplanted Opera and Safari.

While different sites had a small variation from the above stats they were still quite close and IE never topped 56% which is a massive loss of market share. Even with that percentage, almost 30% of those using IE where still using IE 6, which has vast rending flaws.

Microsoft needs to get their heads out of the “clouds” and get to work in making sure IE 8 is ready for primetime or they will find themselves in the minority of market share even though they have the majority by Operating System.

Desktops V1.0

Thinker — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:02:26 GMT

Microsoft has released a new product of SysInternals called Desktop V1.0. It is a simple utility to visualize your desktop offering up to four virtual desktops. You can activate different desktops by either using the icon in the system tray or by hotkeys. When you first install it, you have the option of setting the hotkeys for desktop switching:

As mentioned you can also active a different desktop by selecting the icon in the tray:

When you click on the tray icon it displays a panel to select the desktop you want:

When you switch to a different desktop, all your background and any icons you have on the desktop are replicated to your other desktops. The taskbar in each desktop only displays the apps running on that specific desktop and some tray icons may be missing.

All seems okay and could be useful since it even detects my dual monitors, but all is not a go on my Vista 64 system. The scroll wheel on my mouse only works in the primary desktop, others do not seem to detect the scroll wheel (that is a show-stopper for me, I will not use a system without a scrollwheel). But beyond this, some useful system tray icons do not carry across all desktops and while writing the post, I did have a quirk where it would not access the icons on my primary desktop for a period of time.

UPDATE: I had an IE instance open in my primary desktop and when I would double click a link on the desktop in one of the virutal desktops, it would open a tab inside the IE instance in my primary desktop. Had a lot of tabs open in that instance before I found out what was going on ;)

Seems like, on my system at least, I will have to wait for Version 2.

Here is the link if you wish to try it out for yourself:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc817881.aspx

Google Chrome Considered Harmful

Thinker — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:49:00 GMT

Chrome cartoons not telling the truth?

http://www.newmobilecomputing.com/story/20244/Google_Chrome_Considered_Harmful

There are lots of comments to read through ;)

Edit:

Another Google Chrome Security Flaw Identified:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210500290