The Groundhogs Say...

EARLY SPRING!!!

W00t! Neither Windy City Woody nor Punxsutawney Phil saw their shadows today, meaning that we're in for an early spring! Folklore goes that if the groundhog comes out of hibernation and sees its shadow, it will run scared back into its home to hibernate for 6 more weeks (meaning, 6 more weeks of ugly winter). Not so today! These two woodchucks are in good company, as a couple other famous 'chucks are saying "Early Spring!" as well, including Staten Island Chuck in New York, who has an 84% accuracy rate over the past 25 years, and Wiarton Willie - the famous groundhog up near Toronto, Canada (eh?)

Punxsutawney Phil is the US national groundhog who makes his home out in Pennsylvania. Since 1886, he's only predicted 15 early springs by not seeing his shadow. (He saw his shadow 96 times, and there are 9 years that remain undocumented). You go, Phil!

These cute little groundhogs have made my day!

Windows Media Player in Firefox on Vista

One annoying thing about Vista has been that whenever I visit a web page that wants to display a movie via Windows Media Player, I get an error message in Mozilla Firefox stating that the proper plugin is not installed. Clicking the link to install the plugin brings me to an XP plugin page (which is not compatible with Vista), but nowhere on Microsoft's web site could I find web browser plugins for Vista's version of WMP.

Not anymore.

The solution involves copying a few dll files into both your Windows Media Player and Mozilla Firefox program files directories.

1. Download the files npwmsdrm.dll, npdrmv2.dll and npdsplay.dll. (Links here are to dlldump.com - they had the proper versions of the files to adhere to yet another Microsoft security bug. Make sure your npdsplay.dll is version 3.0.2.629).

2. Copy those 3 files to two places:

• The Media Player directory, usually C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player
• The Firefox plugins directory, usually C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins

3. Restart Firefox and see if it's working. (Here's a page with a video: Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb).

Full details can be found over at MozillaZine.

Now I can go watch that video of the groundhog not seeing his shadow. Woohoo! Bring on spring!

Windows Vista Quick Launch Keyboard Shortcuts

Grabbed this tidbit over at Lifehacker today - Windows Vista Tip: Built-in Quick Launch Keyboard Shortcuts

If you store your favorite application icons in the quick launch bar in Windows, Vista has created a keyboard shortcut for each one of them: The Windows key + the number of the icon as listed in your quick launch bar.

For example, the first icon in my quick launch is Firefox, so Win+1 would open Firefox. Win+2 would open the second icon (Photoshop, in my case), etc.

Nice.

I also learned that Win+Tab opens up a neat sort of 3D application switcher - kind of like Alt-Tab on steroids. And the shortcut I recently learned but haven't gotten in the habit of using yet... Win+D to minimize all apps and show the desktop.

Windows "Show Desktop" Quick Launch button

One of my most frequently used icons in Windows is the Show Desktop icon in the Quick Launch area of my taskbar. You see, I keep my desktop clear and store all of my frequently used application icons in the taskbar along the bottom of the page. I'm accustomed to having immediate access to a clear desktop by clicking the Show Desktop icon down there. This is particularly handy when I've got multiple programs open and need to quickly minimize them all. (I supposed I could use the keyboard shortcut Win-M to minimize, or Win-D to show the desktop, but if I'm on the mouse, I'd like to have a mouse option as well!)

If you accidentally delete your Show Desktop icon, or (in my case) Vista doesn't seem to display it by default, here's how you can get it back. This works in both XP and Vista (Business edition, anyway):

1. Create a plain text file called "Show Desktop.scf" and paste the following text into the file:

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

2. Drag that text file down into the Quick Launch area of your taskbar. (If the Quick Launch area isn't available, right-click on an open space on your taskbar and choose Toolbars - Quick Launch).

Voila. Show Desktop icon appears. If only the icon wasn't so ugly in Vista. They don't seem to have updated it since XP.

Take Great Photos this Christmas

Found this article through Lifehacker - 16 Digital Photography Tips for Christmas

Some neat ideas here!

2006: What I've Geeked Out To

Here are some of the things I've geeked out to in 2006 (in no particular order - added as I think of things):

• OpenDNS - After years of using suffering with Comcast's unreliable DNS service, I've switched to using OpenDNS's servers. The effects were instantaneous and the speed increase was immediately noticeable. Pages seemed to load instantaneously - as they should on an 8 meg cable internet connection!
  
  
• MacBook Pro - Who'd have thought I'd become a Mac geek in 2006? I've been using a MacBook Pro from work for about 6 months now, and I can't say enough good things about it. The thing just works - elegantly and intuitively, at that. I've even got Microsoft Windows XP running on the Mac hardware with Apple's BootCamp - and wouldn't ya know; XP runs better on Mac hardware than on any PC-compatible hardware I've ever used!
  
  
• Windows Vista - Last weekend, I upgraded to the Business edition of Microsoft Windows Vista. This one just barely made it into 2006, and I'll probably have more to say about it next year, since I'm still finding my way around. Contrary to my expectations of a new Microsoft operating system release, this particular experience has been... dare I say... flawless. I'm as baffled as you are. The upgrade went without a hitch. (I upgraded my existing XP Professional installation and did NOT do a clean install of Vista). Vista found all of my drivers, and everything works well so far. It has not crashed a single time on me, and (after adding another gig of RAM for a total of 2GB) is quick and responsive. The interface is slick, and I have a feeling once I get used to where everything is at, I will actually like the changes they've made to its layout (unlike XP, where I ended up switching back to "classic view" on most things because its layout made no sense). Vista is much more intuitive than any of its predecessors (but still chasing Mac OS X in usability). ;-)
  
  
• Ultima Online 9th Anniversary Collection - Yes, I still play UO. It seems that around the fall season each year, I find myself getting back into the game. I play it through winter, and then can't find the time in the summer months. Wash, rinse, repeat. My own personal 9 year anniversary in UO will be next month, and frighteningly enough, I've been committed to this game longer than anyone or anything else in my life. I'm not sure what that says about me! 2007 will be a big year for UO, as they're getting a new graphics engine for UO: Kingdom Reborn. The screenshots look fantastic. I can't wait, and it may even be cool enough to keep me playing through the summer.
  
  
• Dead Pixel Buddy - Since I've been using LCD monitors for a couple years now, and just bought a shiny new 22" widescreen ViewSonic 5ms HD LCD monitor, having a dead pixel tester is handy. There are web based ones that don't require a download, but those tend to make my eyes bug out. The good news: my new monitor has no dead pixels that I can find. I must warn you, though. There's a downside to testing for dead pixels. Once you find one, you will notice it constantly, and it will bug the shit out of you!
  
  
• Hamachi - Hamachi is a zero-config VPN utility for creating secure virtual networks between computers). I've been running Windows XP Remote Desktop over Hamachi so that I can access my work computer from home and vice versa.
  
  
• TightVNC - I wanted to set my mom up with Remote Desktop so that I could do tech support stuff on her computer from home, but she's running Windows 2000, and short of installing terminal services, I couldn't do my usual Remote Desktop setup on her machine. So, I've opted for running TightVNC (a remote control software package) over Hamachi to remotely control her computer.
  
  
• ViewSonic 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor (VX2235WM) - Life is so sweet when you have tons of screen real estate! I'd venture to say that I'm even more productive with this monitor than my old (now-dead) 17" Sony LCD. This monitor runs at 1680x1050 (I formerly used 1280x1024) and has a 5ms video response time (compared to 12ms on my old top-of-the-line monitor from 2 years ago). My only complaint with this monitor is that the stand isn't adjustable, and on my particular desk, the monitor stand is so high that I have to look upwards at the top of this monitor, making the top of the screen appear dark when playing games (due to the weird viewing angle). This isn't a fault of the monitor, really - I just need to find a way to better configure my desk to fit this monster.
  
  
• Logitech Cordless Desktop MX3200 Laser - Wow, this sure dropped in price after Christmas. I paid $30 more for it a week ago than Logitech now retails it for. Oh sad! At any rate, the keyboard is whisper quiet and extremely comfortable, as is the mouse (which is to be expected from a Logitech mouse). They're still my favorite mice ever, despite Microsoft's very hard push into the keyboard/mouse arena. Keyboards... well... I wish Logitech had a curved key design (not the crazy over-the-river and through-the-woods curvy hilly thing that Microsoft does - just the flat keyboard with the keys curved), but other than that, this keyboard is nice. I especially like the built-in LCD display with time and date.
  
  
• Vonage - Still using it. Still love it. I've had zero problems with call quality or reliability, and it's full-featured and cheap. What else is there? I particularly like the ability to forward calls to my cell phone, and the ability to check my voicemail on the web.
  

Dead Monitor

I think Vista killed my monitor.

OK, it's unlikely that Vista killed my monitor. My monitor has been quirky since the day I got it. But, while completing the final phase of the Vista upgrade that I performed on my main computer system today, my monitor turned itself off and has yet to power back on.

"Then, how are you writing this?" you ask? Simple.

I went and grabbed one of the piece of shit CRT monitors out of the garage and lugged it upstairs.

How is it that a gorgeous 17" Sony LCD monitor that is less than 2 years old is sitting here lifeless, while this no-name 17" CRT monitor that I bought for $79 in 1997 is working just fine? Granted, the dot pitch has me about ready to claw my eyeballs out, but it's working!

My Sony LCD has always been quirky. It has this problem where when I push the power button to turn it off, it turns it DEAD - ie. it turns off and I cannot turn it back on for 20 minutes, a half hour, an hour, two hours... all depends. It has never powered itself off though. It would run for days no problem, as long as I never turned it off. Usually, I'd turn it off when I went to bed (to save the screen), and by morning it would be back on standby and ready to turn back on. Not this time.

Vista was chugging along with its upgrade, and so I ran downstairs to cook some dinner. I came back upstairs, and the monitor was black, with no power or standby light. I rebooted the computer via a traumatic power button shutdown, hoping Vista was truly done installing. (It was). Still nothing on the monitor. Upon running to the garage, grabbing my P.O.S. monitor and plugging it in, voila - there's Vista, just waiting for me to tell it about my network.

I still have my Sony monitor plugged in but it hasn't come back to life yet.

The problem here is... this CRT monitor is so awful that I'm already getting a headache, and I've only been on the thing for 15 minutes or so. Looks like I'll be burning the plastic tomorrow to buy a new monitor. Might as well get that extra gig of RAM I've been wanting, while I'm at it.

On a side note... the Windows Vista upgrade went flawlessly. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. There's no way it was that easy. I'll post more about it when I actually believe that it worked.

Ready for the holidays

My desktop on the PC is ready for the holidays:



Here's where I got this desktop image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toshiuz/70554790/

Cheap, Good Computer Speakers?

My 9 year old Altec Lansing computer speakers finally took a shit on me. (Best $72 I ever spent!) I need a new set of speakers with a woofer.

Any suggestions? Altec Lansings were the cat's ass back in 1997, but I've paid no attention since.

Preferably under $100. Super preferably in the $50-ish range.

XP Remote Desktop via Mac OS X

How trippy:



That's a picture of me on my MacBook Pro, running Windows XP via the Microsoft Remote Desktop Client over a Hamachi VPN.

Sick!

It's quite snappy for standard file browsing. I was even able to log into Ultima Online and get around the game. Granted, I won't be fighting any monsters, as it's a bit laggy in gaming, but it's definitely responsive enough to do little things - like access files and email them to myself!

Hamachi is pretty damn cool. It claims to be a zero-configuration VPN, and it pretty much is. Well, Hamachi is in fact zero config. It's Windows that isn't zero config. I had to do some registry editing to get Hamachi to run as a service under XP, in case I need to reboot that machine remotely. Other than that, piece of cake.

The OS X version of the Hamachi GUI (HamachiX) is still prerelease beta software, but it worked fine for me.

Here are the resources I consulted to get everything running:
Cyberonica - Hamachi How-To
Hamachi Forums - Remote Desktop

If I weren't so sleepy, I'd write up a how-to, since I had to sort of put things together piece-meal from various sources (though the Cyberonica article is the most cohesive one I found).

Hopefully, I can get my Hamachi VPN working at work too, so I can access files on my home PC while at work. Suhweet!

Faxing through Vonage

I've got Vonage VoIP phone service (love it). Occasionally, I need to send a fax (maybe 2 or 3 times a year). It's not often enough to sign up for the dedicated Vonage fax line or one of those fax-through-email services, but often enough that I don't want to be paying a buck a page at Kinko's.

I've read horror stories about people having trouble faxing through Vonage (since VoIP lines are not meant for faxing, or even standard modem communication, for that matter).

I was able to get things working on this end using my US Robotics 56K fax modem and the Windows XP fax service (built-in to XP). I had to crank the baud rate on my modem down to 9600 (and I've read of people going even lower). Also, I dialed the *99 prefix to guarantee the highest quality call through Vonage.

I'm on page 7 of an 11 page document, and it's sending just fine so far...

(Note: It would not send at 56K or before I dialed *99. It kept dying with a "fatal error").

Update: Success! 11 pages sent successfully.

The TiVo modem is also still dialing fine, since I hooked it up to a wireless modem jack.

MS to allow Vista reinstalls... duh

Ever get the feeling that companies make up this shit just to get people talking? There's no way Microsoft intended to limit Vista to TWO installs (ie. there's no way they didn't think of this issue with non-OEM systems themselves... that's just silly).

From Slashdot:

Claus Valca writes "I just spotted over on the Windows Vista Team Blog the news that the Windows Vista retail licensing terms are being revised. Looks like PC home-brew system builders have been let back into the Vista party!" From the article: "Our intention behind the original terms was genuinely geared toward combating piracy; however, it's become clear to us that those original terms were perceived as adversely affecting an important group of customers: PC and hardware enthusiasts. You who comprise the enthusiast market are vital to us for several reasons, not least of all because of the support you've provided us throughout the development of Windows Vista. We respect the time and expense you go to in customizing, building and rebuilding your hardware and we heard you that the previous terms were seen as an impediment to that -- it's for that reason we've made this change."

I am OS X

More Mac love for luku.

My quiz results - Which OS are you?


Which OS are You?

Large disparate groups

Background: There's a competition called "My Dream App" that asks Mac OSX users to submit ideas for their dream application. The top 3 apps will be developed and turned into shareware apps, and the idea person wins a prize and 15% of the proceeds from the sales of their app.

The results: The top 3 apps as determined by web-wide voters were:

1. Atmosphere, a weather simulation and forecasting app
2. Portal, an app for syncing files, folders, and apps between 2 or more Macs
3. Cookbook, an app to streamline many kitchen and cooking activities

As I read through the comments on Ars Technica's post about the Dream App winners, I found this profound gem:

Posted October 26, 2006 @ 9:33PM by segphault

A cookbook and a weather application. That speaks volumes about the mentality of OS X users.

And the reply (which is really why I'm posting this):

Posted October 26, 2006 @ 11:36PM by macFanDave

quote:

That speaks volumes about the mentality of OS X users

Windows users would have chosen an anti-spyware tool, a Notepad replacement and a PowerPoint template that didn't look like it was created by a second-grader hopped up on Ritalin and Pixie Sticks.

Linux users would have chosen a package maker, something-something-ML that's like a python hanging on Rails held up by struts bobbing for perls, and a Konqueror control where if you click on Tux's . . . uh. never mind.

If you ever wanted proof that large disparate groups can only agree on the unispired and mediocre at best, look at who we Americans have put in charge!

Bravo! I got a laugh from it, anyway.

AMP web server package for Mac?

I had a heck of a time getting XAMPP for OS X installed on my Intel-based MacBook Pro tonight. Actually, I got it running just fine, but was having permissions issues. XAMPP requires that you start it as root/superuser, so I did so from the Terminal. However, my htdocs and all other folders were read-only to my main user account. I could change the permissions so that my user account could edit the files, but then I'd have to change the permissions back to the system owner.

So - how the heck do I get XAMPP installed so that I can develop and test on the same machine? (ie. edit the files in my htdocs folder, and test them via localhost in my web browser)

Does anyone know of a better "AMP" package for Mac OS X? (Apache, MySQL, PHP)

/edit - I found MAMP and it's working just fine.... ahhh how a Mac should be! Easy!

Who needs Windows?

I'm sitting in a hotel in Dallas, typing away on the MacBook Pro that my job has provided to me. It's been a few months, and I'm now comfortable doing tasks like configuring my Mac OSX environment and installing applications. The primary applications I use are available for Mac, so there hasn't been any adjustment required in that department. I use Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Firefox, Thunderbird, and Microsoft Office. Yup - they all come in Mac flavors - even Office.

This week has been the longest sustained Mac usage I've experienced, with no Windows access whatsoever. After learning how to use GarageBand to record podcasts the other day, I've decided I'm a convert. I already knew how to record and edit audio on Windows with Audacity, but it certainly isn't easy enough for my mom to do it. Podcasting with GarageBand? My mom could do it. Literally.

That got me thinking about Macs in general. In the past, one of my biggest criticisms of Mac machines was the fact that software is much less abundant and a bit more expensive (in some cases) than software for Windows. I'd say, "Would you rather walk into Best Buy and have one measly aisle of software to choose from, or lots of aisles?"

Here's the thing: who needs aisles of software, when each Mac application is typically superior to its Windows counterpart? Why do I need 5 different choices for the same application, from different manufacturers, when I can have ONE that works wonderfully?

This MacBook Pro looks good. It's slick. The screen is gorgeous. Its battery lasts much longer than my Pentium 4 Windows-based laptop. This MacBook Pro is innovative. My 2-year-old Windows based laptop is just about useless right now because its power plug has come loose and will no longer charge the battery properly. This Mac has a magnetic power plug that easily pulls away from the machine in the event of emergency (such as, tripping over the power cable). This MacBook Pro just works. I have yet to have it crash on me. (I had trouble with it early on, but it turns out I didn't understand how to implement the power management features).

Tonight, since I'm stuck in a hotel with limited television options, I went to the NHL.com web site to listen to the Flyers hockey game online. When I clicked the "listen now" link, my browser informed me that I was missing a plugin.... GULP. NHL Radio requires Windows Media Player. I nearly shrieked, "Nooooooooooooooooo!" thinking that I might have found one reason why I needed Windows in my life. A little googling and I discovered that there is a plugin that allows Quicktime player to play Windows Media files - and Microsoft endorses it. (In fact, I got the link from Microsoft's web site). It's called "Flip4Mac," and it works like a charm. (No reboot required! Gosh I love this Mac).

The only thing I've been able to think of that I can't do on this Mac is play Ultima Online, and with BootCamp's ability to boot my Intel-based Mac into Windows, I could even play UO if I wanted to. I haven't tried BootCamp, but I will soon.

Who needs Windows??

Release Candidates

Firefox Version 2, Release Candidate 2 is available for download. (Firefox 2 - RC2)

I ran RC1 on a computer at work and had no problems, so now I'm running RC2 on my computer at home. I like some of the interface tweaks. I've only been using it for an hour or so, so I don't have a good feel for it yet, but it's been stable thus far and I'm excited for the upgrade.

I also downloaded an iso for Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 last night. (Windows Vista RC2)

I had downloaded RC1 and burned it to DVD, but never installed it. I've got RC2 as well, and have not installed it. Dare I? There's no way I'd install it as my main machine. Too many bugs. However, I've been toying with the idea of repartitioning my hard drive and installing it as a dual-boot scenario. Still, any such thing risks effing up my whole system, and with Windows, the likelihood of things getting screwed up is always high.

I'm still not sure if I'll try Vista RC2. I've been reading good things about it, though.

Funny how my faith in beta version software is so different for two different companies.

Vonage and Tivo: Success at Last

For those of you struggling to get your Tivo boxes to dial out and make their daily calls via a Vonage or VOIP phone line... after years of struggle, I solved the problem in 5 minutes.

Go buy an RCA Wireless Modem Jack. (Be sure it's the MODEM jack, not the PHONE jack). Mine is model RC930. It's a wireless phone jack that runs via your power outlets. I'm currently NOT using my in-home phone wiring for Vonage, so this worked wonderfully.

Plug the base into your Vonage phone box. Then plug a phone into the base. (I have a VTech cordless 5.8 GHz phone with 3 handsets). Then take the remote piece of the wireless phone jack and plug it into an outlet near your Tivo. Set up the jacks as instructed, then plug the Tivo into the remote jack.

Voila. My Tivo dialed out with no modifications to the dialing prefix, and my phones are all working.

YEARS, I've struggled with this! All I needed was 5 minutes of installation time, a trip to Best Buy, and eighty bucks. Here's a link to the one I bought:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1051384177248&type=product

I've had no interference with my wireless phones or with my 802.11g wireless network thus far.

Joy!

8 meg connection... tasty!

I just got off the phone with Comcast, and after a cable modem reboot and a solemn promise to pay an extra ten bucks per month for service, my old 6 meg cable connection is now a shiny new 8 meg connection. I'm benchmarking at 8,600 kbps right now. For my trouble, they also double the upload speed, from a puny 356 kbps up to 712 kbps. I'm benchmarking 699 kbps right now.

Ahhh.... the joys of a phat pipe! (Bandwidth pipe, that is!)

Bush on Technology

President Bush had this to say to recent college graduates about technology:

"Science offers the prospect of eventual cures for terrible diseases _ and temptations to manipulate life and violate human dignity," Bush said during commencement exercises at Oklahoma State University. "With the Internet, you can communicate instantly with someone halfway across the world _ and isolate yourself from your family and your neighbors."

That is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I've acquired and fostered more friendships online than I ever could face to face due to pure logistics. Even more importantly, I've kept in touch with face to face friends that I'd have lost touch with in the absence of technology. I probably talk to my mother MORE now (via email) than I did before she was online, due mainly to the fact that we work opposite schedules.

We sure do have an enlightened leader on our hands. Read the full article at the Washington Post.