ye110wbeard's Land of Silly Un-Official Funny Fridays Site: Computers and Internet

There's Something Not Funny Here Today - Energize IT!

Sat, 10 May 2008 10:53:11 GMT

Nope You were expecting this to be a funny.

Nope.

Just me sitting in my sitting down in my little dungeon like my pants are on fire.

No wait. They were. Take note not to keep a bunch of batteries in your pocket with your spare change. Hmmm...

I'm just sitting here up early on a Saturday because I can't get to sleep.

It's only TWO WEEKS AWAY! Two weeks! ENERGIZE IT 2008!

HA HA! HOO HOO! The King of Kings of Days for Computer People!

I'm just itching to see what's happening this year! It was a giant Cornucopia of technology and vendors last year.

Free training sessions on technology were there too! (And Popcorn, there was Popcorn too!)

Yes it was a giant Computer Fair in every sense of the word. There's no reason to think this year will be any less.

And this year is no different. Ok I lied it is. It's so incredibly over the TOP better! Just as much if not more to do, and SO MUCH INPUT for the brain.

I won't go into the details of what Energize IT did to me last year other let's just say I'm on the Frontbridge list of potential UCE's... :)

The online videos you have seen folks are just my very amateurish way of saying "I am Inspired". I am not a video photographer (as you can tell), nor am I able mix on any level (DUH!). But ENERGIZE IT has me so over the top excited I just want to YELL and SCREAM to the world "GO THERE! CHECK IT OUT!"

If a single event could do that to an ordinary guy like me, what could it do to you?

If you see a fat computer guy wearing a Tilley Belt, possibly with a pirate bandana on his head with his face stuffed full of popcorn looking like his eyes are about to pop out wandering about with a camera and gear. That'll be me. Flag me down and say Hi.

After all Energize IT is at it's base level, a great place to run into somebody new and say "Hey ya Hi Ya Ho Ya Howaya"

Energize IT 2008.
May 24th 2008
Metro Toronto Congress Centre

Sean
Friday Funny Guy

IT Pro Toronto - Go there - Or I'll use liquid paper on your monitor.

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:39:57 GMT

Do you like computers?

Are you curious about new technology?

Does the thought of a Commodore 1541 disk drive singing "Daisy Daisy" make you go "Gaga?"

Would like to run into others of a like mind just because?

Or do you just like coffee?

Then go to www.itprotoronto.com and register for the next meeting.

They meet the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 30 Eglinton Ave in Mississauga at Nexient.

Go there

Even you might like to try and sneak a free slice of pizza... :)

www.itprotoronto.com

Next Meeting is April 15th at 6:00pm. Formal Dress not required.

Or is it? Hmmmm......

Energize IT 2008 - Toronto!

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:21:23 GMT

Ok.

You looking to check out some new technology, meet some people?

How about a "Day away from it all" for a computer person?

Looking for a little something for Everyone?

Check out Energize IT 2008!

Saturday May 24th, 2008 at the Toronto Congress Centre.

Just off the 401 near Dixon Road. Just look for the Harvey's!

Cost?

Oh no! Not that!

That's right ... it's....it's.... FREE

YES...It's... FREE .... and it doesn't even have spyware attached to it!

That's right, a Saturday, so no excuses for not going...

So check it out.... or I'll make fun of you... :)

Sean
Friday Funny Guy

HHH_CA - Server 2008, SQL 2008, Visual Studio 2008 Launch - Heroes Happen {HERE}

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:54:06 GMT

Yep. Sean Kearney is serious again!

So today I'm at the Heroes Happen {HERE} launch. I was actually up until 1:00am. I was so excited. I'm not even certain why.

But this was one of those rare days I decided to drive to an event. First time one was held at the Direct Energy Center and registration was at 8:00am. The Go Train Schedule for Direct Energy was no good. But that's ok. I was in the car rolling at 6:10am. Even for ME that's early.

Then I pictured my friends from Microsoft Canada. Just so you all know how much time goes into these events. Most of these people were up to oddball hours (Well past 12am EST) for the past two weeks getting this all ready (including weekends). There were those driving in from well outside the city as well as those internally putting all this together.

I had no clue how much time was devoted to these events. I am truly impressed. A large round of applause needs to be handed off to the entire team for their effort.

Now the results.

The launch.

As I stated before, I like getting there early. And I was. I didn't set the record for the team who was apparently there as early as 6:00 or 6:30am; but 7:10am I was in the parking lot. I couldn't find my Tilley hat but that wasn't the end of the world. Which I think means I really do have to clean out my car. Hurry up winter hurry up.

So 7:10am, I move to the front proudly wearing my Community Team shirt (Yes! I washed it again! That's why I was later than 6:30am!). Yet another event where I've forgotten to print off that registration! Shame on me. Well actually I did but it was left in a motherboard box (another story). Quickly and efficiently I was in, tag printed and now sitting there.

Waiting. I mean it WAS well before the 8:00am registration time. So what to do. Pop open the laptop and start on a funny "HERE COMES {TROUBLE}". That was a great way to vent off some time. Then breakfast. A little more to the funny. Then my ears heard a magic sound. It sounded suspicously like a certain addictive "Time Killing Game that the Guys at Microsoft Don't Want Their Boss to Know About."

Yup. "ROCK BAND".

It was almost time for Keynotes but I HAD to see the real thing. Now I KNOW why It's priced the way it is for the full kit. The guitar looks and feels like a Fender Stratocaster. The Microphone has a nice feel. Even the drums! (except apparently if you have younger ones that don't understand the term 'HIT THEM IN THE MIDDLE')

However no sooner did I get a chance to see when Damir walked in with that large Canadian Tire extension cord and.... Oh sorry. Wrong story.

Anyhow Damir popped by to politely let us know keynotes were starting up and Rock Band was starting down... At least for the moment.... :)

So wandering in to the keynotes area I looked.

Wow! The AMOUNT of PEOPLE here! This felt like Energize IT 2007! (Which reminds me, Energize 2008 is coming up in May 24th, So register now. It's a blast on a Saturday! A perfect excuse to get out of the house. "I've got to go to work honey!")

But I was lucky enough to find space near the front. Right at the stage to see and hear.

The keynote was inspiring. Key people from Microsoft Canada INCLUDING the new COO of Microsoft USA were on stage. The stories they told us of how people were using technology to improve the world. And when Mr. Sorgen suggested you say to yourself, how can I help the world as an IT pro. What can I do?

THAT was inspiring. This is why I go to these events. Not only to learn or meet. But often to get inspired. And the events aren't boring either.

Then of course there was the demos about Server 2008, SQL 2008 combined with Visual Studio 2008. What Rick Claus and Christian Beauclair showed us on stage was:

Server 2008 is secure out of the box, easy to implement security and seamless.
SQL 2008 can encrypt it's own data out of the box without downing the site working on it
Visual Studio 2008 makes life a lot easier on developers. So much easier Christian snoozes in the back with a stuffed toy... :)

The demos were so efficient because of the software, we even got out ten minutes earlier for lunch! How about that?

Now of course it's lunch time. Now I've cracked jokes before about the "Food lines" at Microsoft events. That seems to be the one way they could improve them. This time the way it was spread out throughout a much larger cafeteria seemed to do it. Lunch was quick, tables weren't overly packed. Maybe it's because I got in there earlier? Or maybe just luck that because the IT Pros and Developers got staggered out that did it. Either way, this was nice. What I didn't mention they usually treat you to a nice boxed lunch? Both good AND healthy?

I was sitting down at the table with Frankenstein (my laptop, another story) and decided to just write. So I'm powering down the little beast when she encounters a BSOD (Dirty four letter word at Microsoft) and a younger fellow spots it happening. Now you know what was neat there? It didn't spawn off a "Microsoft bashing". It spawned off an intelligent conversation with another passionate individual about how he got a Blue Screen from a badly written driver! Even playing Rock Band! I ran into somebody who was curious about the game. You can passionately talk about it and nobody thinks your nuts! At these events, you encounter so many people that are passionate about technology. It makes you feel a little less abnormal some days!

So a little wandering, a little Rock Band later. I'm sitting down. Frankenstein is running low on battery power but I'm feeling creative. I wanted to get something done for work on goofy problem we have with Quickbooks and an ODBC connector. So I'm sitting down powered up the wee beast and who walks up but Damir Bersinic.

"So how's it goin'? What'cha doin'?"

Now the strange thing here. I'm not afraid to chat with Damir now. But that little voice in the back of my head. "SQL MAN! IT'S SQL MAN! and you're working on a simple ACCESS2007 Query! And SQL MAN IS HERE!"

"Ummm. Yup. Ummm working on something for Quickbooks2007 for work so we can get paid. Ummmm..."

Yep deer in the headlights!!! Eeep! Hide! Run! Can't move!

So Damir nods along smiling his little tune and idles about. I guess wearing that "Microsoft" logo on the shirt I really should "mingle" more. Well let's just say Energize IT 2008 will be interesting I think.

Now time for the demos! Rodney Buike is on stage now. I know this poor fellow has had about four hours of sleep. Like I said they work hard!

His demos are about how to implement NAP and mess about with Hyper-V.

NAP is very interesting. The very concept of it is simple. No computer, that isn't up to spec, get's to connect to the network! Rodney even told us where one company it might have saved a consultant his job. Plugged the laptop in, worm broke loose after getting an IP address and flooded the switches. No damage to the network but major inconvenience and a sliced lan cable for a stupid consultant (I'm sorry, he never heard of Antivirus software?)

Rodney even showed us how to make it work with machines that weren't up to spec. (IE Windows 98se, NT 4.0, Mac O/S 9. Yep they're still out there) but the NAP aware clients are even aware for Linux and Mac. How about that? The computer community co-operating!

Then there was Hyper-V. Oh man this is some cool technology. I'm itching for the final release with driver support that crosses past Server 2008 with USB support (Rumor has it will be there). But even marked as beta, I've yet to see it crash! Microsoft has taken a VERY seriously look at their development process. You know what? There BETA doesn't scare me now. It is INCREDIBLY stable. I remember installing Windows 2000 PRO RC1 and getting a Blue screen. Windows 2008 Beta? Nothing. Poof. No surprises on basic install and operations!

So Hyper-V seems to be "Stable but needs more features added.".

More features? Built in 64bit guest support? Snapshotting of the Virtual Machines? I'm running it on a DuoCore with 6 gig of ram and it's happy with Vista and Cougar!

Then there's Server Core Rodney showed us a bit more of how to use it. Really, it's meant for that "Branch office" to be managed remotely. But you know what? On a smaller firm this could be an amazing boon. Decent low end hardware, mirrored drives. Install Core and "Voila" file and print server that's face AND secure. Throw in a Virtualized Terminal Server and you've got a little power monster!

So the demos ended off. The day was ending. I was going to go onstage and bug my Microsoft friends but thought better of it considering how LITTLE sleep they had.

I could always do a funny about it later.

So back outside, hand in the "Badge" and get the "Bag". Sweet!

A one year Trial of Server 2008. Visual Studio Standard 2008! SQL Sever KATMAI and a COUPON for the real version with a one year license. SWEET!

And of course one final round of RockBand.

But "ye110wbeard" is NOT allowed to sing anymore. Just ask Daniel Nerenberg... :)

HHH_CA Community Session Mississauga - Heroes Happen {HERE}

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:23:11 GMT

A rarity. Inspired enough to tell a real story.

Anybody who knows me knows I love to kid about. I take my job and customers seriously, but when it's time to sit down and relax. I like to do so and spin a yarn. Take a real situation and spin it off into something a little more interesting. Or maybe just make an out and out right story that's right off the deep end.

But not today.

Today I am inspired. Inspired enough to be serious (a little at least).

I'm going to tell you about what the HEROES HAPPEN {HERE} Community and Launch was like. At least for this poor shy IT Pro. (What?! Mr. Trouble is shy?!)

Stop that. No kidding about now. This is serious time. Yes. I'm afraid to walk up in a room full of people and say "Hello" although online I will probably paint a portrait of you and chat up left right and center.

So it's out. That's the real me.

Now the real me was excited. Technology really get's me going. Whether it's a blinking LED light in the "Radio Shack 150 in 1" Electronics kit or Exchange Servers. Doesn't matter. So a chance to spend two days amongst real IT Professionals was beyond astounding.

So let's start with the Community Event. I wasn't quite sure what to expect there. I was "Voluntold" that I was being interviewed or something on the stage for the Tuesday night run. Voluntold is definitely an interesting word. "Volunteered" and "Told" after. But it was the team from Microsoft doing the "Voluntold". So no matter my fears of public speaking, had it been a "Voluntold" to run through the heating ducts pulling to look for mice, I'd have done it.

The Community Session at HHH_CA.

I had no idea what this might involve but I keep thinking "Everytime I walk away I learn something a LITTLE different"

I learned what NAP really was and how it could apply (As I have minimal time to play with my schedule) and was already visualizing how we might be able to use it on some of our smaller sites with laptops. I guess it's not quite compatable with Dos.

I was comfortable with Hyper-V environment already but Ruth's demonstration reminded me about snapshots in Hyper-V. You still have differential VHD's which let's you have a base install and work from there without having to redo the base image every time. But snapshots? Think "Shadow Copy" and "Hyper-V". "Well it's working fine now so let's take a "snapshot" and go back if we have to. Not a major operation! Just "click the mouse" and history for that particular Virtual Machine is SAVED! Up to 64 individual snapshots! When I'm doing Swing Migrations, how THAT could help when you're merging to a really screwed up setup. "Hey let's do this and try. We can always step back."

I REALLY like that.

There were six break away sessions based on various things that might interest people. For Me? It was Hyper-V. And there was some that didn't surprise me "Faster, able to leap tall buildings." and some that did. "Not a horrible performance hit on Exchange". But over and over they kept going over the same key rules, "Remember your original 'Best Rules of Practice' as they still apply. And I got to sit in the front row listening to a really cool Geek from HP, Mitch Garvis and another expert from Whitby all at once. That was more than just "interesting".

I learned that even developers, no matter how good they are can have a rough time with streaming media... :)

Although personally I thought it really WOULD have made a really cool Kung-Fu movie. I was just personally waiting for him to leap out of his chair and smash a table or something...

Then of course I had to my little "Voluntold" at the front. Somehow I had thought there would be more people. Nope just me. Oh oh. And BOY was I looking for the nearest exit. (Just how fast can I run?)

No not really. I guess I wasn't quite sure of the format or I would have done something a little tighter and more professional. I'm not even sure what the team expected what with all the "Mr. Trouble" stories and Friday Funny Guy is all they usually hear.

I'm certain they didn't know what to expect. And were probably a little afraid. I still remember Rodney Buike's comment. "We are more scared of you than you ar of us :p". Boy if I'd only know THAT I could have leveraged my way into Redmond a lot quicker.
:)

I think it went ok. Thank God Ruth popped in as I felt myself wandering. Take note. If you're ever up front, push for details of time, format, etc. It will make it all run a lot smoother... ;) Having said that, sometimes you can just "Wing it". I'm just not personally good at COMPLETELY winging it.

There was a quick wrap up (It was made even quicker when Damir mentioned the word "BEER") and a room full of IT Pros, Developers, Managers and Geeks in General began hopping about singing "Beer beer beer..." (No they didn't but there was some excitement as a result of that statement that could not contained)

The after session was interesting since it was in the normally holy guarded session of the Microsoft Canada Cafeteria. (Yes normally security access only) And although the pitbulls guarding the door added a nice touch, it was quite open. For myself getting to wander in that area seeing the columns with inspirational messages written on them. WHOA! Then wandering about, you found a common touch. There was Daniel Nerenberg of TheLazyAdmin.com. Other MVP's. I like to find somebody I know in a large crowded room. Give's you a bit of a base I always find. I'm not the "Cold call" type. So it was interesting to meet up with these people and others while there.

It's interesting to me on another note. If somebody had told me a year ago I would be standing inside Microsoft Canada chit chatting with Damir Bersinic and not jumping about like a complete idiot on Christmas day? I'd have said they were full of malarky.

Heroes happen {EVERYWHERE}

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:28:55 GMT

I am tired.

So tired.

That server last night.

What are the odds of a brand new Intel server blowing up? With a new APC UPS to protect it? A power surge between the two. With the original server dead, what was I to do?

Bring the old sucker back online while the parts came in for the new and keep the client happy.

What are the odds of all this going on you say?

In my world? Pretty damn good.

Let me tell you my story. I am an IT Pro. My job like many of you in my field, is to do whatever is required whenever it is required.

Each day we need to solve the simple miracles and pull the humongous rabbit out of the hat. Whether we can or cannot.

Some days you win, some days you lose. Most days you win. And if you're good at it, your hours can really suck.

But it does have it's days where it's interesting. It's always challenging. It certainly never gets boring.

And it's a dog eat dog world out there too where your competition is always to undercut you and lie about their skills. Of course you get to hear people cry to you later on about how that guy ran the network so badly afterwards.

But all you can do is hold back your opinion of the other company. You do because that is unprofessional. No matter how much you want to say it.

There are days when the check is great and you can treat the family out well.

There are days when you're scraping money together so badly you wonder if you'll ever see the light of day.

You're fighting the taxman and the bills as often as you're battling servers and workstations.

You argue with customers and the boss about payment sometimes stare at that old bottle for comfort.

There is joy in the field, there is stress. There are nightmares I would not wish on my worst enemy.

But with all this going about. Would I quit? Would I give up ANY of this for a more stress free job?

HELL NO! I am an IT PRO! I take the WORLD on my back! I put out FIRES with little thanks just to keep it all running the next day. I undo network problems, solve situations created by idiots, patch together the dead to live long enough to provide the long term solution.

I fight viruses and kill malware. I am the last line of defence in a world of chaos.

Along with my many colleagues in the field, we stand proud. We stand tall. IT Pros, Developers, Managers and many of the staff we work with everyday.

We are {HERE}

We are {HEROES}

We are {EVERYWHERE}

Heroes Happen {HERE}

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 17:34:12 GMT

Those unspoken masses who work through the night
Doing the deed to end the fight
Plodding along until the light

{HEROES}

Those who answer the angry calls
While terror runs through the halls
And laptops thrown at the walls

{HEROES}

Those who weave amongst the Code
To prevent a dump and overload
To interlink that hidden node

{HEROES}

The managers who deal with the blow
Of the problems that always show
Each day they stand and glow

{HEROES}

The parent with little cash
Rebuilds a system from the trash
To bring a child's eyes that little flash

{HEROES}

And the rest not be forgotten by
Let us stand up hands held high
And shout out clearly to the sky.

WE ARE {HEROES}

and

HEROES HAPPEN {HERE}

Stay at Home servers

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 06:20:27 GMT

Well apparently the debate is on!

Harumph! Stay at home servers. Just WHO do they think they are!

http://www.stayathomeserver.com/default.aspx?vid=0

Perhaps the people designing this at Microsoft could use a Friday Funny guy... :)

The Cougar

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:22:51 GMT

I am sitting here watching and staring. It grumbles and growls in my presence.

There is a problem here. It's sitting down in it's cage looking at me with disdain.

I so much want to let it out, but I need to put it's house together.

There is scratching at the bars, a hiss and the snarling goes on.

What shall I do?

The dog backs off from the noise, the cat is staring down from the ceiling in terror. A large paw bursts out. This powerful creature has managed to bend the bars a bit.

Thanks to Microsoft, there is a "Cougar" in my basement...

and I think it just ate my cat.

The North Pole gets a little Modernization

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:00:58 GMT

Poor old Santa Claus. Another year has come up and he is having SO much trouble

dealing with managing the elves.

Production problems left right and center. Suppliers are backed up because they can't communicate properly with poor Santa. Simple difficulties in production and questions are causing major backlogs.

Some elves needed to book some time off too and most of them booked the same day off. Mrs. Claus lost her schedule book and did a big boo-boo.

And with world population going through the roof, the "Naughty nice" list just got too large to carry about.

Poor Mr. Claus. He's just banging his head against the table.

How could this all be solved? It was December 17th, too many toys to make. And so he goes online to www.live.ca on his "Ho-ho-holett Packard" laptop and does a search.

"Solution Unified Scheduling Information"

Or something like that, I mean what else does an 800 year old elf type in?

He finds it.

"Microsoft providing solutions to all your needs."

Santa picks up his Nortel Rotary phone and dials.

"Hello Microsoft Support, how can we help you?"

"Hello. This is Santa Claus..."

Immediately, recognizing who this was, it was IMMEDIATELY escalated to top Top TOP level tech support. That's right. The "B" guy.

"Hello Microsoft Ultra Senior Top Level Primo Support, Bill Gates speaking."

Santa was impressed.

"Hello Mr. Bill. I would check to see if you were on my 'Naughty Nice' list but things have just gotten SO out of hand."

"No problem Mr. Claus. Here at Microsoft, we provide solutions. So what types of problems are you having?"

And so Mr. Claus goes into details explaining the communications and scheduling problems at the North Pole.

"Santa! Have I got the solution for you. I think you need to have a little technology up there to fix it all. And here at Microsoft, we have what is needed!"

So Bill goes into some details explaining Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, Sharepoint Server and Office Communicator 2007.

Santa sits there eagerly taking in all the information, chomping upon tray and tray of Christmas cookies. Mrs. Claus hadn't seen him so happy in ages.

Santa agrees and has Microsoft call in some Partners and MVPs to fire up his new network.

When they were done the elves all were all wired up with Office Communicator on their desktops. Calendar appointments were posted into a common Sharepoint Calendar. Suppliers kept directly in contact with Santa via email. Faxes ended up on Santa's phone CC'd to Mrs. Claus. The Naughty Nice list was uploaded into an amazing SQL Server 2008 database. The developers from Microsoft write him up nice tidy little app using Visual Studio 2008 to get that NaughtyNice2008 list onto his Mobile 6 Smartphone. (That a REALLY mean game of 'Elf Bowling')

And of course to tie it all up neatly, Mr. Gates sent up a few excellent volunteers from Microsoft Canada since they were already used to the sub zero temperatures of the North Pole.

And so with only 24 hours to spare, Santa managed to get production back up to par, sort of the elves scheduling issues. He even managed to get a little offtime to play Guitar Hero III on the Xbox360. Man THAT old guy could play!

So Christmas day came and went and the holiday was saved all because of a bunch of nerds who loved creating solutions and an Uber nerd who led them to the cause.

Virtualization ROCKS!

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 04:17:17 GMT

Now I know most of the time (Ok ok ... fine ALL OF the time) I'm sitting here in my little electronic playland cracking jokes at whatever strikes my mind at that particular point as something to poke at.

But I had a chance to actually implement a solution recently using Virtual PC 2007.

Now this is NOTHING new to the experts out there. But to those who haven't played, Virtualization technology is not just a toy for developers. It's something real people can use.

My situation involved a client that was running an application in Dos (stop giggling) and it was stable and still met their needs to the present day.

The problem they had was something a little more simple. The machine that ran for thirteen years without fail finally gave up the ghost.

The Dos application would not run under any version of Windows other than Windows98 or Windows 95. (There are some!)

Enter Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 and an amazing program called WinImage (WELL worth the money).

WinImage can take a drive, memory key or any other such device and create a VHD or ISO file as you so need. You can back up that file and play with the original as you need in Virtual PC 2007.

It can allow you to mount that drive for read / write access to edit it if you need direct access to it's virtual file system.

Virtual PC 2007 (a free download from Microsoft) allowed the client to run their original legacy environment on current hardware. No issues! The two computers can even network with each other!

The neat bit is thanks to the different ways to connect the machines (Virtual PC 2007 will even connect to some existing hardware like USB ports, Serial ports and parallel ports) there is very little you can't do.

In the case of this client, they will even be able to take a modern day All in One Laserjet printer via USB or LAN and just let Dos print to it.

Even more fun, is you can create a virtual PC, copy the file somewhere else, and launch apps and viruses into it to see what it could do. But in an isolated environment so you can undo the mess so easily.

Oh this stuff is just the GREATEST!

I'm not sure on the licensing for Enterprise, Microsoft guys are experts on that. But Virtual PC 2007 is free to download and use. May want to read the legal agreements, there's probably a minor catch

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/virtualpc

And of course you're going to need WinImage to build a live copy of your hard drive to play with. But if you want to start from scratch virtual PC will allow that too. Heck you can install LINUX in it. Trap the penguin in a box!

Source: http://www.winimage.com/

Have fun with it folks!

The Frantics - Obsolute Computer!

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:48:32 GMT

It's slowed down a bit nowadays, but this is is EVERY computer guy's nightmare!

An exceprt from "Four on the Floor" from the Frantics

Ok Fair is fair now

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:00:02 GMT

We had to put up with the "Mac Vs. PC" commercials and their half lies... This is fair... ;)

Windows Live Writer

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:40:27 GMT

Ok this is not exactly "new" to others in the know, but I just have to say I LOVE using this little beast!

Not only can I work on all my ideas offline (especially sitting down in underground parking where there is NO wifi) But it even gives me an idea as to what the page will look like before it goes up.

The Fact that it spell checks is great! (As far as I can see, only US English, dammit there is a "u" in colour!)

Too bad it doesn't do a grammatical check (Sometimes I'm in such a blur to dump my thoughts, I forget the odd word). But for that I really should just be using Word 2007.

But if you're interesting the place download it is here.

And I just found out about plug in gallery for Live Writer

It's fantastic!

Now a few features I would like to see.

Ability to insert video hotlinks (Maybe it's there, didn't see it) Oh never mind, this will do it.

The ability to download my Entire blogs for archiving / editing. Don't know if that's a limitation or live.com or Live Writer.

Grammar check.

Download my Categories and allow me to Categorize the post before sending it. A pain to go back and categorize it after posting it.

Other than that, why call it Beta? ... :)

Windows Home Server goes RTM

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:58:57 GMT

WOOOHOOOOOOOO!

I got to see the RC in action. I can't wait to build to box to home this one for real!

YEEEHAAAA!

http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2007/07/16/ship-it.aspx

Microsoft Bluetooth Presenter Mouse 8000

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 23:23:28 GMT

Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000

Somebody gave me one of these about a month ago. Mice are mice right?

I had the Microsoft Notebook Mouse for quite a while and it was great. Astounding battery life. Responsive. Just did it's job solidly.

How can you improve on that?

Well you COULD add in Bluetooth, maybe some Presentation controls, zoom option, Laser Pointer and even a Volume option.

You COULD do that.

Well these people at Microsoft (horrible fiends that they are!) DID that!

It's about $129 Canadian and comes with a Bluetooth Receiver in the box. So gee. That means my present crappy non bluetooth enabled PC is now; Bluetooth enabled! I've already used it to pair my system with the SMT5600, Logitech Cordless Elite keyboard and even a Bluetooth headset for fun.

You know what? It JUST worked!

Now I haven't had a lot of opportunity to do presentations (ok to be honest, er, none!) But it strikes me after watching some of them in action, not having to carry three or four devices to run a presentation MIGHT be a good thing.

Facing up normally it's a standard mouse, 6 buttons on top (one to switch to presenter mode) and of course a scrolling wheel. Flip it over and click the "Presenter button" and you've got a Laser pointer, frame control and volume.

Sorry, they didn't include a full Laser cook beam THIS time.

It's not a rechargeable mouse, but like most new Cordless/Wireless mice it has an astounding battery life. These are the same batteries for the last month with the switch on!

Ok ok... Wait, there's more. They also give you a nice Hardshell carrying case for the mouse and Bluetooth dongle in case you MIGHT just want to take from home to work. Why not?

In short. Get one of these. If you don't, well I feel sorry for your fingers... ;)

Microsoft Fingerprint Reader

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:33:50 GMT

Ok I grabbed one of these about three weeks ago. It's been a BLAST!

I like to have fun with my passwords and can come up with some really goofy ones. And of course the old rule of thumb. DON'T WRITE IT ON A STICKY NOTE AND PUT IT ON YOUR MONITOR.

Well this sucker just takes away all the stress.

There usually about $50 Canadian in most shops (Cheaper if you look around). Now I'm not sure how it is on a corporate level but here in the house it's better than sliced bread. Anything in Windows (So far!) that can ask for a password I can attach to my fingerprints.

Now what's nice is it doesn't kill the ability for me to type in passwords. It works WITH it. It coexists beautifully. So I can still go into my system remotely, key in a ridiculous password and get to work.

But in the house. "Touch" and it's in.

I let me Teenage son at it. Nope. It was tied to my finger prints.

the neat thing I'm thinking of trying is buying one for each kid. Simplest reason of all. Try getting a 10 year old (or a teenager) to use a good password to keep each other out of their desktops. It's just like Herding cats!

Now with one of these, I can setup the system with an acceptable 73 Character long password, complete with Upper,Lower, Punctuation, Numbers, Cyrillics and Vulcan (you get the idea) and the only way in is through the finger printer reader. Keeps them in line!

Of course it doesn't negate the option of somebody getting a bruised thumb (I think that's a new form of BruteForce cracking (pardon the pun!)

But as an added bonus? It DOESN'T LIKE DIRTY FINGERS! The kids ACTUALLY have to have clean hands to use the computer.

Check it out Microsoft Finger Reader. On eBay look for it now.

Oh Bloggity bloggity blog!

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 09:36:54 GMT

Well this is a pickle!

5:30 am. The day BEFORE Entergize IT 2007. I've been invited to an extra EARLIER seminar by the guys from the Canadian IT Professional team.

Oh CRAP!

I guess if you poke the bees nest with "Being a funny guy" and "hire me" enough times they're going to call you on it!

I'm so nervous and excited I can't sleep! THIS IS COOL! I haven't been this excited since my first day at the Bay. I think I WAS this nervous before my first date and the day I was married.

It's some sort of professional development seminar. Should be neat. It's probably one of those impromptu, fall flat on your face and learn how to pick yourself up things.

Never been to one. Not sure what to expect. But I AM Excited. So Excited I woke up without an alarm clock this morning.

Jitter jitter jitter... That just about sums it UP!

TV on the PC

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 12:59:30 GMT

Ok THIS is not cutting edge.

But finally, FINALLY I got some time to myself to play. I haven't had this in a while.

TV on the computer. (Oooo Big &@#$#@ deal!).

Ok well I always thought it was kinda cool. But the last time I had this was when the first ATI All-In-Wonder card was out. No stereo. Their software. Hooked on a 27" RCA TV playing Quakeworld.

But with Media Center Edition from Microsoft this rocks! I don't get to watch much TV, and typically anything I would want to watch is at some goofy hour. I'm too busy working on the computer to muck with the stupid VCR tape (And God forbid the tape gets chewed, it's not attached to the PC)

So I will be moving the whole system upstairs soon onto the TV. The really frightening thing is with the DVD Player Burner in it, a decent set of 6.1 speakers it pretty much replaces the entire home system. And with Media Center Extender for xBox i can still watch the goodies downstairs.

Sweeeeeeet. Microsoft. Kickass job on this one! Can't wait to get the Vista version of this!