On February 17, 2009 the last analog television signal will be broadcast. I just read about it today but, apparently, everyone in the universe knew about it before I did.
The FCC is mandating a total switch to Digital TV in an attempt to free up broadcast spectrum for public safety communications and for sale to companies offering wireless broadband. Televisions without an internal digital tuner will not pick up signals after the change over.
For you neurotic television watchers, the FCC has a countdown clock available at http://www.dtv.gov/
Monday, December 3, 2007
Amazon's Mechanical Turk
The Turk was an eighteenth century chess playing machine that beat, among other notables, Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte. The machine was, of course, a hoax based on having a human hidden inside the apparatus directing the machine.
Amazon has taken the name, and the concept, for its new artificial intelligence engine Mechanical Turk.
There are some tasks which people are much better at solving than computers (even still). The concept of MTurk is that people submit requests called HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks) like "does this picture contain a duck" or "what color is this shoe" and offer a small fee on the order of $.03 for a valid answer. Turkers accept the job and submit the answer. The same job will be taken and fulfilled by more than one person and, if the answers match, the answer is deemed correct and the people are paid. The payment amounts are so small that it's not really a way to make a living - most people doing it are participating instead of playing solitaire or some other mindless game and are thrilled to make $50 in a week.
This article was posted in the SBM forum of Moodle and is an excellent review and commentary on Amazon's newest scheme.
Amazon has taken the name, and the concept, for its new artificial intelligence engine Mechanical Turk.
There are some tasks which people are much better at solving than computers (even still). The concept of MTurk is that people submit requests called HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks) like "does this picture contain a duck" or "what color is this shoe" and offer a small fee on the order of $.03 for a valid answer. Turkers accept the job and submit the answer. The same job will be taken and fulfilled by more than one person and, if the answers match, the answer is deemed correct and the people are paid. The payment amounts are so small that it's not really a way to make a living - most people doing it are participating instead of playing solitaire or some other mindless game and are thrilled to make $50 in a week.
This article was posted in the SBM forum of Moodle and is an excellent review and commentary on Amazon's newest scheme.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Second Life
Second Life is virtual world where you sign up, get an Avatar (computer image) and wander around a user created 3-D world interacting with your surroundings and other Residents (participants). Unlike many online games, the world has been created almost entirely by the users. There is a rich scripting language called Linden Scripting Language which allows Residents to create everything from clothing and houses to motorcycles and wings.
There is no scoring system and you can't "win" so Second Life isn't a game but it's much more than a social interaction tool as well. It has its own economy based on Linden Dollars which can be used to buy things other people have created, invest in real estate, play the stock market or exchange for real U.S. dollars. There are people who make their real life living making items for Second Life. Universities have been offering online degrees through Second Life and some companies even do first round interviews in Second Life.
The Resident's Avatar navigates the 3-D world by walking, flying, riding in vehicles or teleporting. There is a complete physics to the word so things that should fall do and your can't just walk through walls or people. You can interact with other people by chatting with them, trading with them or even shooting them.
Really the world is to huge even to describe in a single blog entry, go check out Second Life. When you are finished being amazed and appalled, check out a spoof site called Get a First Life.
There is no scoring system and you can't "win" so Second Life isn't a game but it's much more than a social interaction tool as well. It has its own economy based on Linden Dollars which can be used to buy things other people have created, invest in real estate, play the stock market or exchange for real U.S. dollars. There are people who make their real life living making items for Second Life. Universities have been offering online degrees through Second Life and some companies even do first round interviews in Second Life.
The Resident's Avatar navigates the 3-D world by walking, flying, riding in vehicles or teleporting. There is a complete physics to the word so things that should fall do and your can't just walk through walls or people. You can interact with other people by chatting with them, trading with them or even shooting them.
Really the world is to huge even to describe in a single blog entry, go check out Second Life. When you are finished being amazed and appalled, check out a spoof site called Get a First Life.
Friday, November 23, 2007
If you haven't heard of Facebook or its primary competitor, MySpace then you've been living under a proverbial electronic rock. They are Social Networking websites where people can give advertisers everything an advertiser would want to know about them - name, address, phone number, email, age, sex, music preferences ... in exchange for telling the world about their new favorite breakfast cereal.
Facebook, created by 23 year old billionaire Mark Zuckerb, is ranked as the sixth most trafficked website in the USA with more than 30 billion page views per month. It boasts 42 million active members, and is expected to exceed 60 million by the end of this year and 200 million by the end of 2008.
Facebook has a rich develpers network with its own, custom Facebook Marked Language (FBML), Facebook Query Language (FQL), API (REST Web Service) and Facebook JavaScript (FBJS). Allowing developers to write full applications inside the Facebook environment. For you database geeks, click here for the Facebook database design.
I think it's a cool concept but before you ask, I do not have an account on either FaceBook or MySpace. I'm just not that excited to have complete strangers know what kind of juice I drink.
Facebook, created by 23 year old billionaire Mark Zuckerb, is ranked as the sixth most trafficked website in the USA with more than 30 billion page views per month. It boasts 42 million active members, and is expected to exceed 60 million by the end of this year and 200 million by the end of 2008.
Facebook has a rich develpers network with its own, custom Facebook Marked Language (FBML), Facebook Query Language (FQL), API (REST Web Service) and Facebook JavaScript (FBJS). Allowing developers to write full applications inside the Facebook environment. For you database geeks, click here for the Facebook database design.
I think it's a cool concept but before you ask, I do not have an account on either FaceBook or MySpace. I'm just not that excited to have complete strangers know what kind of juice I drink.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Wikipedia
I heard on NPR that there's a great site http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/ created by a CIT grad student, Virgil Griffith, which allows you to see who made changes to Wikipedia articles and what changes have been made.
For example (from the article)
A person from Wal-Mart made this change:
Original:
Wages at Wal-Mart are about 20% less than at other retail stores. Founder Sam Walton once argued that his company should be exempt from the minimum wage.
New:
The average wage at Wal-Mart is almost double the federal minimum wage (Wal-Mart). However, founder Sam Walton once argued that his company should be exempt from the minimum wage.
I'm going to go check out what Haliburton has changed ...
Read the NPR article here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12823729
For example (from the article)
A person from Wal-Mart made this change:
Original:
Wages at Wal-Mart are about 20% less than at other retail stores. Founder Sam Walton once argued that his company should be exempt from the minimum wage.
New:
The average wage at Wal-Mart is almost double the federal minimum wage (Wal-Mart). However, founder Sam Walton once argued that his company should be exempt from the minimum wage.
I'm going to go check out what Haliburton has changed ...
Read the NPR article here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12823729
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Vault
Up until recently, I have been opposed to source-code management tools. A source-code management tool is used by groups of programmers working on a single project.
Without source control, the project is divided up into files and a single person is given the responsibility for that "file." That is not to say that a single person will do all of the work on a file but a single person is responsible for coordinating the work on that file so that someone making changes a) makes changes to the most up to date version of the file and b) doesn't over-write anyone else's changes. This system works great in small teams of responsible people but breaks down in larger or less disciplined groups.
Source control software allows the entire project to be "checked in" to a central repository. There are several versions of source control available. The simplest is the "check out" method where a single person signs out the file and works on it. While it is checked out, other people can read the original version but cannot edit it until it is checked back in. This solves both the newest version problem and the over-write problem. Unfortunately, it limits file edits to a single user at a time which can be problematic for large files or under tight deadlines.
Another common type is the edit-merge-commit model. When you want to edit a file, you get the latest version from the repository but it doesn't get locked. When you are done with the file, you check it back in. If someone else has also made changes to the file, the software shows you both versions side by side with the changes from each person highlighted. If there are no line level conflicts, you can just merge the two files together incorporating changes from both people. If there are line lever conflicts (both people edited the same section of code) you have to manually choose which changes to keep.
Recently, our group started working on the largest project we have ever attempted. All five programmers are working on the same project and, often, the same section of code. We chose to use Vault as our Version Control software and I have been slowly warming to it.
Without source control, the project is divided up into files and a single person is given the responsibility for that "file." That is not to say that a single person will do all of the work on a file but a single person is responsible for coordinating the work on that file so that someone making changes a) makes changes to the most up to date version of the file and b) doesn't over-write anyone else's changes. This system works great in small teams of responsible people but breaks down in larger or less disciplined groups.
Source control software allows the entire project to be "checked in" to a central repository. There are several versions of source control available. The simplest is the "check out" method where a single person signs out the file and works on it. While it is checked out, other people can read the original version but cannot edit it until it is checked back in. This solves both the newest version problem and the over-write problem. Unfortunately, it limits file edits to a single user at a time which can be problematic for large files or under tight deadlines.
Another common type is the edit-merge-commit model. When you want to edit a file, you get the latest version from the repository but it doesn't get locked. When you are done with the file, you check it back in. If someone else has also made changes to the file, the software shows you both versions side by side with the changes from each person highlighted. If there are no line level conflicts, you can just merge the two files together incorporating changes from both people. If there are line lever conflicts (both people edited the same section of code) you have to manually choose which changes to keep.
Recently, our group started working on the largest project we have ever attempted. All five programmers are working on the same project and, often, the same section of code. We chose to use Vault as our Version Control software and I have been slowly warming to it.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Axminster Palm Nailer
I spent the last three days working on my house extension. Mostly, I'm just grunt labor and my friend, Geoffrey, is the real brains. He's a toy freak and the newest toy he brought to play with is a pneumatic Palm Nailer. It works on air pressure like a pneumatic nail gun but instead of driving the nail in one blow, it hammers the nail in. "Why, then, " you ask, "don't you just use a nail gun?" I'm so glad you asked. A nail gun is only so accurate. We were nailing Joist Hangers and trying to get through those tiny little holes with a nail gun is well beyond my skill.
A Palm Nailer has a magnet in it so you just place the nail in it and push it into where-ever you want. A smidgen slower than a nail gun but loads more accurate and easier than hammering 32x4 nails by hand.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
BART
BART is the Bay Area Rapid Transit system ... for you people terminally stuck on the East Cost, the Bay Area is San Francisco and surrounding areas. In California. Check out their bus map. It gives graphic, real-time updated information on where all of the buses on the selected lines are and an estimated time of arrival at any given bus-stop. Every couple of seconds, you can see the little bus icons advance on the map. So much better than sticking your head out into traffic in Burlington wondering when/if the next bus will arrive.
The website uses a Java Applet (Client side with database connection) to display the data without an incredible time lag (unless you, like me, try to select All Lines). I'll bet it would look better done with Flash/Flex ...
The website uses a Java Applet (Client side with database connection) to display the data without an incredible time lag (unless you, like me, try to select All Lines). I'll bet it would look better done with Flash/Flex ...
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Terra-server
I am in the midst of loading my 500+ cd collection onto my hard-drive. This driven partially by the 14 year old I gave my iPod to and partially by rediscovering all the cool CDs I have that I haven't listened to in forever. I'm about half way through and running out of hard-drive space, a problem I have never had before on any computer I've ever owned. Not that my hard-drive is tiny, it's just that mp3 files take up space.
For just how much space and an easy to understand article on mp3 compression check out How Stuff Works.
So, I'm whining to a co-worker about my drive problems when our network admin comes up and says - "hey, we have an extra drive you can have for $150. The only problem with it is that it's too large to back up." My ears perk and swivel and I am reaching for my wallet before he finishes the word "up."
My new toy is a Buffalo TeraStation Home Server. The Tera standing for almost one terabyte of disk space. For you not-so-geeks, that's 1024 Gigabytes. To compare and contrast, my current hard-drive is a measly 80 Gigabytes. Using MP3 compression (which is about 10:1 for music files) and a little math, I should be able to store 20,000 music CDs on my new hard drive.
For just how much space and an easy to understand article on mp3 compression check out How Stuff Works.
So, I'm whining to a co-worker about my drive problems when our network admin comes up and says - "hey, we have an extra drive you can have for $150. The only problem with it is that it's too large to back up." My ears perk and swivel and I am reaching for my wallet before he finishes the word "up."
My new toy is a Buffalo TeraStation Home Server. The Tera standing for almost one terabyte of disk space. For you not-so-geeks, that's 1024 Gigabytes. To compare and contrast, my current hard-drive is a measly 80 Gigabytes. Using MP3 compression (which is about 10:1 for music files) and a little math, I should be able to store 20,000 music CDs on my new hard drive.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Cloud Computing
I just read a really cool article in August's issue of Scientific American. (Yes, I know, I'm a little behind. I've had other things on my mind :)
The general concept is that Sun Microsystems has packaged 250 servers into a standard shipping container. Add electricity, water (for cooling) and a high speed internet connection and you have an instant data center. "Project Blackbox" has seven terabytes of active memory and can support 10,000 users.
I found it particularly interesting because Sun is claiming that this is the next step towards fully distributed computing - one of the "future trends" Laura and I talked about at the end of our Flash/Flex presentation.
The general concept is that Sun Microsystems has packaged 250 servers into a standard shipping container. Add electricity, water (for cooling) and a high speed internet connection and you have an instant data center. "Project Blackbox" has seven terabytes of active memory and can support 10,000 users.
I found it particularly interesting because Sun is claiming that this is the next step towards fully distributed computing - one of the "future trends" Laura and I talked about at the end of our Flash/Flex presentation.
RE Leslie's Database problem
Hey Leslie -
I don't use Oracle but I have a possible suggestion about your problem ...
If it's the LONG/LONGRAW data type that's crashing your system, is it a field you really need to return in the code that's crashing? When I'm lazy, I just return the entire record when I only need a couple of fields.
dm
I don't use Oracle but I have a possible suggestion about your problem ...
If it's the LONG/LONGRAW data type that's crashing your system, is it a field you really need to return in the code that's crashing? When I'm lazy, I just return the entire record when I only need a couple of fields.
dm
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Farenheit 451
I'm a huge Science Fiction fan. Laura's post mentioning (among many other things) Ray Bradbury's book recalls the (not a, the) time I won a trivia contest by knowing that paper spontaneously combusts at 451 degrees Fahrenheit. Just a bit of trivia, not everyone knows why the book is called that.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
How the Internet Works cross posting from Legal and Ethical Issues
When you win a bid on for an Internet domain name, you don't own that name; you are only renting it. You pay the previous owner for the right to rent that name for a year - so who really owns it? The answer to that question is a tricky one. To answer it, you really need to know a little bit about how the Internet works.
In order to get an Internet connection to your house, business, car etc. you typically must pay an Internet Provider. This is similar to paying a phone company for telephone service and can be exactly like that as many phone companies are also Internet providers. Once you are connected to the Internet you can send email, listen to music, surf web pages and all other things cyberspace but what really happens when you type www.gradcenter.marlboro.edu into your browser? www.gradcenter.marlboro.edu is known as a URL or Universal Resource Locator. Each URL can be translated into a unique I.P. or Internet Protocol address. This translation occurs at a special type of computer called a Domain Name Server (DNS) which keeps a lookup table of URLs (www.gradcenter.marlboro.edu) and IP addresses (206.192.68.2). If you want to find the I.P. address of a URL you can go to a site like http://www.ip-adress.com/, type in a URL and it will tell you all sorts of information about it.
I also "own" a domain name 398North.com. Every year, I pay a hosting company called Planet Hosting $25.00 to continue to "own" it.
If I type my URL into another website http://reports.internic.net/cgi/whois I get back
What does this all have to do with Internet Real Estate? Notice the last like of the listing above; "Experation Date:" If I am even one day late in paying that fee, someone else can buy 398North.com - for one year - for my $25.00. So, if I am only renting my URL, who owns it? One possible answer is Planet Hosting; that's who I pay my rent to. However, I can change to another Internet Host, keep my URL and pay the new host an annual fee instead of paying it to Planet Hosting. Another possibility is ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. From their website -
ICANN is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique IP addresses and domain names. It also ensures that each domain name maps to the correct IP address.
- but I don't pay ICANN anything. So really what I'm paying for is to have the DNS system connect people who type www.398North.com into their browser window to the IP address I have designated. I'm pretty happy I didn't pay $150,000 for that.
In order to get an Internet connection to your house, business, car etc. you typically must pay an Internet Provider. This is similar to paying a phone company for telephone service and can be exactly like that as many phone companies are also Internet providers. Once you are connected to the Internet you can send email, listen to music, surf web pages and all other things cyberspace but what really happens when you type www.gradcenter.marlboro.edu into your browser? www.gradcenter.marlboro.edu is known as a URL or Universal Resource Locator. Each URL can be translated into a unique I.P. or Internet Protocol address. This translation occurs at a special type of computer called a Domain Name Server (DNS) which keeps a lookup table of URLs (www.gradcenter.marlboro.edu) and IP addresses (206.192.68.2). If you want to find the I.P. address of a URL you can go to a site like http://www.ip-adress.com/, type in a URL and it will tell you all sorts of information about it.
IP address location & IP address info:
IP address [?]: 206.192.68.2 Copy
IP address country: flag United States
IP address state: Vermont
IP address city: Marlboro
IP postcode: 05344
IP address latitude: 42.860100
IP address longitude: -72.728897
ISP [?]: TelCove
Organization: Marlboro College
Host: ernestine.marlboro.edu
Local Time: 2007-10-28 21:30
IP address [?]: 206.192.68.2 Copy
IP address country: flag United States
IP address state: Vermont
IP address city: Marlboro
IP postcode: 05344
IP address latitude: 42.860100
IP address longitude: -72.728897
ISP [?]: TelCove
Organization: Marlboro College
Host: ernestine.marlboro.edu
Local Time: 2007-10-28 21:30
I also "own" a domain name 398North.com. Every year, I pay a hosting company called Planet Hosting $25.00 to continue to "own" it.
If I type my URL into another website http://reports.internic.net/cgi/whois I get back
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain Name: 398NORTH.COM
Registrar: INTERCOSMOS MEDIA GROUP, INC. D/B/A DIRECTNIC.COM
Whois Server: whois.directnic.com
Referral URL: http://www.directnic.com
Name Server: NS0.PLANETHOSTING.COM
Name Server: NS1.PLANETHOSTING.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Updated Date: 07-may-2007
Creation Date: 26-may-2004
Expiration Date: 26-may-2008
Registrar: INTERCOSMOS MEDIA GROUP, INC. D/B/A DIRECTNIC.COM
Whois Server: whois.directnic.com
Referral URL: http://www.directnic.com
Name Server: NS0.PLANETHOSTING.COM
Name Server: NS1.PLANETHOSTING.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Updated Date: 07-may-2007
Creation Date: 26-may-2004
Expiration Date: 26-may-2008
What does this all have to do with Internet Real Estate? Notice the last like of the listing above; "Experation Date:" If I am even one day late in paying that fee, someone else can buy 398North.com - for one year - for my $25.00. So, if I am only renting my URL, who owns it? One possible answer is Planet Hosting; that's who I pay my rent to. However, I can change to another Internet Host, keep my URL and pay the new host an annual fee instead of paying it to Planet Hosting. Another possibility is ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. From their website -
ICANN is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique IP addresses and domain names. It also ensures that each domain name maps to the correct IP address.
- but I don't pay ICANN anything. So really what I'm paying for is to have the DNS system connect people who type www.398North.com into their browser window to the IP address I have designated. I'm pretty happy I didn't pay $150,000 for that.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Blogging about Bloging about Blogging
So, I read Maury's blog entry about Blogging and I have to agree that I would never have done it without being forced to in this class and will probably stop as soon as the class is over.
There have been some positive aspects, such as being forced to examine my life for technical interactions. The way it usually works is that I have an idea for a Blog entry, go research it so I don't sound like a fool and so I have supporting links to add, then sit down and start to write. I usually compose it in TextPad, my favorite text editor, so that I can write in chunks - rather that in one sitting - and so I can spell check it. Again, so I don't sound like a fool. After pasting the entry into the Blog, I go and make the links
That said, I am still disinclined to continue Blogging after class is over because I feel that the time I spend Blogging, I could spend learning something or accomplishing something and not just talking about learning or accomplishing something. Now writing a Blog PROGRAM, that would be cool.
There have been some positive aspects, such as being forced to examine my life for technical interactions. The way it usually works is that I have an idea for a Blog entry, go research it so I don't sound like a fool and so I have supporting links to add, then sit down and start to write. I usually compose it in TextPad, my favorite text editor, so that I can write in chunks - rather that in one sitting - and so I can spell check it. Again, so I don't sound like a fool. After pasting the entry into the Blog, I go and make the links
That said, I am still disinclined to continue Blogging after class is over because I feel that the time I spend Blogging, I could spend learning something or accomplishing something and not just talking about learning or accomplishing something. Now writing a Blog PROGRAM, that would be cool.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
iPod
I received a free iPod from Marlboro for promising to graduate. I would never have purchased an iPod for myself but was willing to try it out risk free. My impressions? So-so. Right away I started to have problems with it; I couldn't get it out of the plastic do-hickey attached to the box. It took a 14 year old that helps my wife with the horses to show me that you have to take the top plastic plate out of the box before you can see the instructions on the back of the plate showing you how to bend the plate to get the iPod out.
It was smaller than I expected it to be, too small. I was afraid I would break it or drop it or sit on it every time I touched it. Still, this class is all about trying new technologies so I "ripped" a couple of my favorite CDs to my hard-drive using windows media player, plugged my iPod into my computer (which recognized it immediately) and ... tried to "synchronize" with my iPod. No luck.
After some research (browsing) I discovered that only iTunes can synch with and iPod so I downloaded and installed iTunes (aggressively saying no every time Apple insisted I give them my credit card number so I could open and iTunes account) and tried loading the .wav files I had ripped from my CDs. Hmmm, apparently, only mp3 format files can be transfered from Windows Media Player to iTunes so I re-ripped the CDs in mp3 format and, finally got a couple dozen songs on my iPod. I listened for a couple of minutes and turned it off. Enough for one night.
In the subsequent days, I loaded a class lecture into my iPod and listened to a couple of minutes of that too, before turning it off. After picking it up and setting it down a couple of times, I concluded that I didn't like an ear-full of music, I liked a car or room full. Off to Best Buy to price my options. For car? SOL. I don't have a tape deck in my stereo (who listens to tapes any more) so hooking it up through my car stereo becomes an electronic problem. I can buy a very nice speaker set to hook my iPod into but I already have a nice set of Bose speakers and I'm not inclined to blow another couple hundred dollars for a lower quality sound.
Finally I said "screw it" and gave it to the 14 year old who had dropped hers in a puddle and tried to dry it out in a microwave.
For $35.00 at Radio Shack, I bought an attachment for my stereo so I can play MP3s from my computer on my house stereo. I'll keep you posted.
It was smaller than I expected it to be, too small. I was afraid I would break it or drop it or sit on it every time I touched it. Still, this class is all about trying new technologies so I "ripped" a couple of my favorite CDs to my hard-drive using windows media player, plugged my iPod into my computer (which recognized it immediately) and ... tried to "synchronize" with my iPod. No luck.
After some research (browsing) I discovered that only iTunes can synch with and iPod so I downloaded and installed iTunes (aggressively saying no every time Apple insisted I give them my credit card number so I could open and iTunes account) and tried loading the .wav files I had ripped from my CDs. Hmmm, apparently, only mp3 format files can be transfered from Windows Media Player to iTunes so I re-ripped the CDs in mp3 format and, finally got a couple dozen songs on my iPod. I listened for a couple of minutes and turned it off. Enough for one night.
In the subsequent days, I loaded a class lecture into my iPod and listened to a couple of minutes of that too, before turning it off. After picking it up and setting it down a couple of times, I concluded that I didn't like an ear-full of music, I liked a car or room full. Off to Best Buy to price my options. For car? SOL. I don't have a tape deck in my stereo (who listens to tapes any more) so hooking it up through my car stereo becomes an electronic problem. I can buy a very nice speaker set to hook my iPod into but I already have a nice set of Bose speakers and I'm not inclined to blow another couple hundred dollars for a lower quality sound.
Finally I said "screw it" and gave it to the 14 year old who had dropped hers in a puddle and tried to dry it out in a microwave.
For $35.00 at Radio Shack, I bought an attachment for my stereo so I can play MP3s from my computer on my house stereo. I'll keep you posted.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Of cabbages and kings
I don't tend to look at who wrote a blog when I'm reading it but somehow always end up responding to Peter's postings - this one on RFID chips.
First, a note that three states have banned forced RFID tags, Wisconsin, North Dakota and now California, although Tommy Thompson, governor of Wisconsin has chosen to be implanted. I think Vermont should join the list.
And before you run for the protection of your tinfoil hat, please read this M.I.T. study ...
First, a note that three states have banned forced RFID tags, Wisconsin, North Dakota and now California, although Tommy Thompson, governor of Wisconsin has chosen to be implanted. I think Vermont should join the list.
And before you run for the protection of your tinfoil hat, please read this M.I.T. study ...
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Routing Number
My newest brush with technology started with an anguished call from an out-of-state friend of mine who will be referred to as butt-head - "Dave, buddy, I know I haven't talked to you in a while but I need a favor ..."
He wanted me to drive down and bail him out of jail. Considering the copious amount of free time I have had recently, I wasn't really interested taking a day of work to deal with this problem.
Enter the routing number. A routing number is the nine digit number on the bottom of your check that isn't your bank account number. This number uniquely identifies every bank in the U.S. and can be used, you guessed it, to transfer funds from one bank to another. I got the routing number of a bank near the courthouse and for the paltry fee of $20.00, my bank transferred funds to that bank and one of butt-head's closer but poorer friends and bail is paid without me driving anywhere.
Butt-head is doing fine, holding down two jobs to pay me back and waiting for his court date sometime next year.
He wanted me to drive down and bail him out of jail. Considering the copious amount of free time I have had recently, I wasn't really interested taking a day of work to deal with this problem.
Enter the routing number. A routing number is the nine digit number on the bottom of your check that isn't your bank account number. This number uniquely identifies every bank in the U.S. and can be used, you guessed it, to transfer funds from one bank to another. I got the routing number of a bank near the courthouse and for the paltry fee of $20.00, my bank transferred funds to that bank and one of butt-head's closer but poorer friends and bail is paid without me driving anywhere.
Butt-head is doing fine, holding down two jobs to pay me back and waiting for his court date sometime next year.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
A blog on blogs
Today, at breakfast, at the Richmond diner, where I eat every Sunday, with my wife, who hates overusing commas, I was reading the Burlington Free Press. Not that I would ever pay to read the Free Press but a copy of it was lying on the counter and the comics were on top. (Really, I'm coming to a point soon.) So, after completing the comics, I moved on to other, less informative and less well written, parts of the newspaper. One article reminded me that I hadn't blogged for a while. A young Chinese man, living in China, was suing his internet provider for censoring his blogs. Apparently, it is common practice in China to delete politically controversial Blog entries.
Since this is a technology blog, and not a political one, I will refrain from commenting on the morality of censorship and, instead, will note some of the advantages and disadvantages of using a Blog v.s. traditional printed material as a method of disseminating political opinion.
Anyway, just a note from a Sunday morning diner.
An after-note. That list was supposed to be outline-indented. It showed up fine when I was writing the post but was butchered on display ...
Since this is a technology blog, and not a political one, I will refrain from commenting on the morality of censorship and, instead, will note some of the advantages and disadvantages of using a Blog v.s. traditional printed material as a method of disseminating political opinion.
- Paper
- Advantages
- You get to meet people who are interested in your cause (handing out pamphlets)
- Anyone who can read is a potential audience
- Potentially more enduring media
- Hard to completely suppress
- Disadvantages
- Potential difficulty finding a printer or maintaining your own press
- More limited to localized distribution
- Blogging
- Advantages
- Easy to create a message (computer access being relatively common)
- Easy to disseminate
- Potentially massive audience
- Disadvantages
- Your target audience must be computer literate
- Censorship can completely destroy your message
- A little more difficult to be completely anonymous
Anyway, just a note from a Sunday morning diner.
An after-note. That list was supposed to be outline-indented. It showed up fine when I was writing the post but was butchered on display ...
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
CSS reply
After reading the Technology Blog entry on CSS, I have several comments.
I do some contracting and the problem of changing technology plagues me as well. If a client wants me to do something obscure that I don't already know how to do (like program hand scanners), I let them know that I will have to learn it and I bill them time. Particularly if it is not a resalable skill.
Something like learning CSS though is a different matter. A client for whom I do a lot of work, I would bill them 1/2 time for learning new skills that would save them time in the future and raise my price for new clients because I would then have more skills and be worth more.
That's just how I do it.
I do some contracting and the problem of changing technology plagues me as well. If a client wants me to do something obscure that I don't already know how to do (like program hand scanners), I let them know that I will have to learn it and I bill them time. Particularly if it is not a resalable skill.
Something like learning CSS though is a different matter. A client for whom I do a lot of work, I would bill them 1/2 time for learning new skills that would save them time in the future and raise my price for new clients because I would then have more skills and be worth more.
That's just how I do it.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Microsoft Office and Podcasting
At work on Thursday, we installed Service Pack 3 for Microsoft Access. For you non-techies, a Service Pack is an accumulation of patches since the last Service Pack. (patches are quick error or security fixes). So, we grabbed the SP from Microsoft, installed it on all twenty or so computers in the office and waited for disaster. This one turned out to be a real pain. For Microsoft Access format 2000 forms, the check boxes no longer respond to mouse clicks - only the space bar. To fix the problem, you have to create a new Access 2007 form (which works fine). Apparently, Microsoft is aware of the problem and will be issuing a Patch soon.
Hey Peter, if it makes you feel any better, I've never listened to a Podcast in my life :)
Hey Peter, if it makes you feel any better, I've never listened to a Podcast in my life :)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
On early adoption
I completely support EagleRay's comment on early adoption. In spite of being a geek, I'm a late adopter. I hate wasting time learning something that has no staying power. I hate dealing with buggy software or substandard hardware. I want someone else to deal with the pain and suffering the newest toy, give feedback to the company and watch their beloved toy become obsolete in six months. I've lived without whatever-the-%$#!! it is so far and I'm willing to do without it for another year or so until they get it right.
I DON'T think you're being too harsh. The same things happens in the fashion world. Early adopters pay boutique price. The sycophants pay high-end department store price. The wanna-be's pay discount store prices and, finally, the late adopters pick it up for a couple of bucks at a second hand store.
(p.s. I'm liking this blog-comment thing)
I DON'T think you're being too harsh. The same things happens in the fashion world. Early adopters pay boutique price. The sycophants pay high-end department store price. The wanna-be's pay discount store prices and, finally, the late adopters pick it up for a couple of bucks at a second hand store.
(p.s. I'm liking this blog-comment thing)
Monday, October 1, 2007
Yet another blog - comment idea
I hate to keep kicking a dead horse (well, I dislike it a little) but the comment on other blogs still isn't working for me. I read them. I would like to comment on some but it's such a pain in the butt. How about this. We can comment on other peoples Blogs in OUR Blogs. It will give us something to write about and the blog aggregators will still pick up the posts.
For example:
Maybe it's just because I'm a database person but I find the 911 system fascinating. I had a vague guess at how it must work but this post helped firm up the concept.
For example:
Maybe it's just because I'm a database person but I find the 911 system fascinating. I had a vague guess at how it must work but this post helped firm up the concept.
Today's brush with technology came from a completely unexpected source. My wife and I are having an addition put on the house. A friend of mine is helping us build it and instead of hiring an architect - he paid $50.00 for Super Home Suite, a simple but functional drafting program. We just spent four hours (in which I was supposed to be getting my assignment for Project Management in gear) puttering around designing our extension. It has a 3-D rotating view mode with a helicopter cursor that we played with like kids in an arcade. I was particularly impressed that you could look in a window from outside and see what had been designed in the room. For example, you can look right into the downstairs tub from the upstairs guestroom. Looks like we'll need those curtains after all.
Oh and it also makes blueprints. Whatever.
Oh and it also makes blueprints. Whatever.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Ruby
So, I've been programming since 1984. I try to keep up with technology - after all, it's what I do. When I landed Programming Languages for my topic, I thought this should be easy, I know it all already.
So, I'm looking up the top 10 programming languages and not only is there one on there I have never used, there is one I have never even heard of. I won't bore you with details but Ruby is on every top 10 list I could find and this is the first I've ever heard of it. A bit of trivia, it's name is a smirk at Perl.
Also of note, I dusted off my HTML skills to indent the Shakespeare quote. I used the tried and true table method but the indent was not as wide as I had hoped.
Ah, much better. Blockquote seemed to do the trick. Does anyone not see the second quote indented?
You sign your place and calling, in full seeming, With meekness and humility; but your heart Is cramm'd with arrogancy, spleen, and pride. Henry VIII 2.4.118-20 |
Also of note, I dusted off my HTML skills to indent the Shakespeare quote. I used the tried and true table method but the indent was not as wide as I had hoped.
All the world 's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts
As You Like It Act II, Scene VII
Ah, much better. Blockquote seemed to do the trick. Does anyone not see the second quote indented?
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Go to SitePal, right now!
Can you believe it? I think something techy is cool. SitePal has a demo where an icon will say anything you type. Down in the lower right hand corner is a figure with Text To Speech written over it. Turn on your speakers, type something in the box and click
Worth a thousand
On the side and in my copious free time, I do some custom database work for small businesses. One such business is Brookline Textiles. They have offices scattered all over the country and needed a way to submit and track orders, check inventory etc. I designed an Access data project front end sitting on an SQL Server backend. Their admin office is particularly tech-shy and when they had errors, it was particularly challenging for them to explain them over the phone to me. I finally hit upon a low-tech solution.
The keyboard combination Ctrl-Shift-PrtScn takes a picture of your current desktop so I had them do that, paste it into an email and send it on. Here is one I got today. I cant tell you how many painful hours on the phone this has saved me.Monday, September 24, 2007
Google Earth
I was reading Alison's blog entry on Google Earth and it reminded me of MY encounter with Google Earth.
My wife and I moved to a small dead-end dirt road in Richmond, VT about two years ago. I immediately went to Google Earth to look at where we lived but the maps were indistinct and blurry. We could barely make out the road we lived on (compared to looking at the airport five miles away where we could count the planes on the tarmac). When I complained to a friend of mine, he said that Google updates sections of the map faster depending on how many requests for an area it gets. I got a bunch of my friends to sporadically check out our house on Google Maps and, about a month ago, the maps cleared up. You can see our house in the middle of the clearing. Interestingly enough, it doesn't show any of the land we cleared this spring so the images must be at least six months old. I can hardly wait to see our lower field. If any of you want to help out, click on my house link and let Google know that I live in an important place :)
My wife and I moved to a small dead-end dirt road in Richmond, VT about two years ago. I immediately went to Google Earth to look at where we lived but the maps were indistinct and blurry. We could barely make out the road we lived on (compared to looking at the airport five miles away where we could count the planes on the tarmac). When I complained to a friend of mine, he said that Google updates sections of the map faster depending on how many requests for an area it gets. I got a bunch of my friends to sporadically check out our house on Google Maps and, about a month ago, the maps cleared up. You can see our house in the middle of the clearing. Interestingly enough, it doesn't show any of the land we cleared this spring so the images must be at least six months old. I can hardly wait to see our lower field. If any of you want to help out, click on my house link and let Google know that I live in an important place :)
Friday, September 21, 2007
iGoogle
I was originally skeptical about this course. I'm a tech kind of guy, I know tech kinds of things and a course on acronyms was the last thing I thought I needed. What Technical Fluency has done is forced me to try new things. It's not that I am opposed to new things, I'm just a late adopter. I don't like to waste time learning fads.
So, on to the Tech stuff. Today, I tried iGoogle and I can't tell you how cool it is, you just have to go see for yourself. For those of you who have never seen it, it's a customizable portal page. It remembers who you are and whenever you go there, the widgets you have put on the page are right where you left them. On my Marlboro tab, (yes, it's a tabbed interface) I put GMail, GoogleTalk, and GoogleReader (so I can check out all of YOUR Blogs)
What I CAN'T put on there is a link to my Blog's data entry screen and a link to Moodle. I am guessing that neither has an RSS feed and so can't be widgitized. I'll keep you posted.
So, on to the Tech stuff. Today, I tried iGoogle and I can't tell you how cool it is, you just have to go see for yourself. For those of you who have never seen it, it's a customizable portal page. It remembers who you are and whenever you go there, the widgets you have put on the page are right where you left them. On my Marlboro tab, (yes, it's a tabbed interface) I put GMail, GoogleTalk, and GoogleReader (so I can check out all of YOUR Blogs)
What I CAN'T put on there is a link to my Blog's data entry screen and a link to Moodle. I am guessing that neither has an RSS feed and so can't be widgitized. I'll keep you posted.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Verizon cellphones
I learned something about my cell phone today ...
When you buy your cell phone, the vendor programs into it the location of all area cell towers. When out of your normal service area, you may notice a symbol that indicates you are "roaming." That is to say, your service is being carried by a non-Verizon company and you will be billed accordingly.
Typing *228 scans the area for new Verizon cell towers and programs them into your phone. This is great when coming into a new area (it will save you a bundle in roaming charges) but also may improve service in your local area if new towers have been built since you bought your phone.
Other tips, you should turn your phone off now and again. It's kind of like rebooting your computer and can sometimes solve little phone glitches.
When you buy your cell phone, the vendor programs into it the location of all area cell towers. When out of your normal service area, you may notice a symbol that indicates you are "roaming." That is to say, your service is being carried by a non-Verizon company and you will be billed accordingly.
Typing *228 scans the area for new Verizon cell towers and programs them into your phone. This is great when coming into a new area (it will save you a bundle in roaming charges) but also may improve service in your local area if new towers have been built since you bought your phone.
Other tips, you should turn your phone off now and again. It's kind of like rebooting your computer and can sometimes solve little phone glitches.
Monday, September 17, 2007
GoogleTalk conference calls
You can do a multi-person chat with GoogleTalk. I had read about it but had never seen it before. I just tried it out with two of the guys in our office and it works like a charm. You can't conference chat from the regular desktop googleTalk widget (yet), you have to go to http://www.google.com/talk/. The web version has a group chat feature even though the desktop version doesn't.
One of the guys was wondering how many people we could get on googleTalk before it gacks ... kind of like the geek version of fratboys in a telephone booth.
I would also like to amend my posting GoogleTalk not there yet to say that it was a firewall issue here at the office. We had just changed from using a Proxy Server to straight Internet access and not all of the permissions were transferred. That is not to say I didn't read several complaints about similar problems with shared documents on various sites but I formally withdraw MY complaint.
One of the guys was wondering how many people we could get on googleTalk before it gacks ... kind of like the geek version of fratboys in a telephone booth.
I would also like to amend my posting GoogleTalk not there yet to say that it was a firewall issue here at the office. We had just changed from using a Proxy Server to straight Internet access and not all of the permissions were transferred. That is not to say I didn't read several complaints about similar problems with shared documents on various sites but I formally withdraw MY complaint.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
GoogleDocs, Blogs and RSS
The unformatted mess below was "published" to my blog with the click of a button from Google Docs. Fascinating. Notice that the HTML formated part at the bottom came through fine but tabbed indenting was completely ignored. Maybe you DO learn something new every day.
The formatted section on the bottom was cut and pasted directly from another site. I had done it originally just as a reference to myself and forgot about it until I published the document to my Blog. Apologies to the author.
RSS flavors
Rich Site Summary
Really Simple Syndication
RSS 2.0
Based on RSS 0.91
Created by Netscape
Refined by Userland
Frozen specification
RDF Site Summary
RSS 1.0
Contains meta data
RDF Resource Description Framework
Atom http://www.atomenabled.org/
Adopted by IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
Promotes standard formts on the internet
Other formts not a standard
Netscape vs. IE
More complex for publisher
Can carry more complex information
Contains the seed for being used as a CSM
RSS parts
Publisher - feed
XML Format
<item>
<title>David's Blog</title>
<link>http://davidmsm.blogspot.com/2007/09/case-against-blogs.html</link>
<description>Most blogs are a waste of time, including mine</description>
</item>
How to publish
Dynamic content
Web scraping
Third party scraping
Google's Cease and Desist http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3334651
Consumer - reader - agregator
Subcribes to an RSS feed (or scrape)
Translates XML feed to HTML
Displays HTML
Why Publish?
Reach more people
Improves quality of user experience
Higher retention of readers
Copyright debate
Why subscribe to it
Saves time
Customized portals
Personal pages
Enhances other websites
Weather
Stock tickers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The formatted section on the bottom was cut and pasted directly from another site. I had done it originally just as a reference to myself and forgot about it until I published the document to my Blog. Apologies to the author.
RSS flavors
Rich Site Summary
Really Simple Syndication
RSS 2.0
Based on RSS 0.91
Created by Netscape
Refined by Userland
Frozen specification
RDF Site Summary
RSS 1.0
Contains meta data
RDF Resource Description Framework
Atom http://www.atomenabled.org/
Adopted by IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
Promotes standard formts on the internet
Other formts not a standard
Netscape vs. IE
More complex for publisher
Can carry more complex information
Contains the seed for being used as a CSM
RSS parts
Publisher - feed
XML Format
<item>
<title>David's Blog</title>
<link>http://davidmsm.blogspot.com/2007/09/case-against-blogs.html</link>
<description>Most blogs are a waste of time, including mine</description>
</item>
How to publish
Dynamic content
Web scraping
Third party scraping
Google's Cease and Desist http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3334651
Consumer - reader - agregator
Subcribes to an RSS feed (or scrape)
Translates XML feed to HTML
Displays HTML
Why Publish?
Reach more people
Improves quality of user experience
Higher retention of readers
Copyright debate
Why subscribe to it
Saves time
Customized portals
Personal pages
Enhances other websites
Weather
Stock tickers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The history of RSS can be traced back to 1997, and the creation of Resource Description Framework. Resource Description Framework is also known as RDF. RDF was created by a man named, Ramanathan V. Guha. RDF is similar to RSS.
The mark up language RDF, was used to store metadata. Metadata is basically information about information, for example if there is an article or a news report, the metadata would be the author, the language, the copyright and all of the information related to the article or news report. In 1999 Netscape created a standard named RSS version 0.90. This was the beginning of RSS as we know it today. Dan Libby, an employee of Netscape improved version 0.90 and released RSS version 0.91. Dave Winer, an employee at Userland also created a new version of RSS. He too named it, RSS version 0.91, creating confusion, because the two versions of RSS were named the same but the specifications were slightly different. Unfortunately this was the beginning of a trend.
Netscape's RSS team abandoned RSS development, because it was dubbed too complicated for what they were trying to accomplish. Meanwhile Rael Dornfest at O'Reily released RSS version 1.0. The new specification by O'Reily was based on the RDF standard rather than the previous versions of RSS. RSS 1.0 was incompatible with previous RSS versions. The specification caused significant marketplace confusion because though RSS 1.0 had the same purpose as the 0.90 series, the specifications were very different. In an attempt to minimize further confusion Userland named their next release RSS version 2.0. RSS 2.0 is very similar to the 0.9 series and is generally considered compatible, while RSS Version 1.0 remains very different.
Harvard Law accepted responsibility for the RSS 2.0 specification because Dave Winer of Userland, found that competitors were leary of using the standard he had a hand in creating. In order for the specification to be endorsed by all it was donated to a non-commercial third party, Harvard Law school. Harvard Law is now responsible for the future development of the RSS 2.0 specification. What is XML? XML or eXtensible Markup Language is a mark up language.
RSS History
| There are a lot of folk legends about the evolution of RSS. Here's the scoop, the sequence of events in the life of RSS, as told by the designer of most of the formats.
|
Friday, September 14, 2007
Stupid Outlook tricks
I'm a neurotic organizer, probably comes with the job description. A sloppy programmer is a costly one no matter how talented.
I use Outlook for my mail client at work. We have an Exchange level spam filter which puts the word in the subject line and drops it into a special Spam folder. Sporadically, I go in and delete the spam but then it ends up in my deleted folder which, once a month I have to go fish something out of. So I end up deleting spam twice, once from my spam folder and once from my deleted folder. Today, by accident I was holding the shift key down while I was deleting spam and none of it ended up in my deleted folder. After some experimentation to confirm that it was a consistent behavior I went hunting for other Microsoft key combinations.
Keyboard
F2
Select a file and press F2 to rename the file
F3
In Windows Explorer and on Desktop, pressing F3 brings up the Find dialog box
Alt + Enter
Select a file and press Alt + Enter to bring up its Properties dialog box
Alt + Space bar
Inside a window, press Alt + Spacebar to bring up the system menu of that window
Ctrl + Escape
Brings up the windows start menu
Alt + Tab
Lets you switch between currently running applications
Shift + Delete
Permanently deletes a file without moving it to Recycle Bin
Ctrl + A
Selects all the files in Windows Explorer. Also selects all the text in text boxes
Alt + F4
Closes the current window
Double left click
Double left click on the system icon of a window closes that window
Ctrl + Tab
Changes the tabs in a tabbed dialog box in forward direction. Also switches windows in an MDI form
Ctrl + Shift + Tab
Changes the tabs in a tabbed dialog box in backward direction
Ctrl + F6
Switches between the currently open child windows in an MDI form
Ctrl + Left click
Deselects a specific item from a selected range. Works in Windows explorer
Crtl + Alt + Delete
Brings up task manager in Windows 95/98. Brings up more options in NT/2000
Shift + F10
Brings up the context sensitive pop-up menu
Ctrl + W
Closes the current window
Windows Key + m
Minimizes all windows
Ctrl + (+) key from the right hand side of the keyboard
Rearranges the widths of the list view's columns properly
Internet Explorer
Ctrl + F
Brings up the Find dialog box
F5
Refreshes the page
Ctrl + N
Opens a new browser window
Alt + Home
Takes you to your homepage
Escape
Stops loading the current page
Ctrl + A
Selects the entire page
F11
Toggles between full-screen mode and normal mode
Backspace
Takes you to the previously loded page
Alt + Right arrow
Forwards you by one page in the available page stack
Alt + Left arrow
Takes you to the previous page in the available page stack
Ctrl + Enter
In the address bar, avoid typing http, ://www and .com by just typing the domain name and pressing Ctrl + Enter
Enter
Not sure if the domain name ends with .com or .net? Type the domain name & press enter. IE will search for the domain
F4
In IE 5.0, F4 drops down the address bar combo box
Ctrl + P
Prints the current page
Control + O
Brings up the 'file open' dialog box
Ctrl + H
Brings up the History window
Control + B
Brings up the 'Organize Favorites' dialog box
Ctrl + R
Reloads/refreshes the current page
Shift + Left click
Opens the clicked link in new window
Outlook
Alt + S
Sends the current mail
Ctrl + Enter
Sends the current mail
Ctrl + K
Resolves the email addresses from the address book
Alt + K
Resolves the email addresses from the address book
F7
Starts spell check
Ctrl + D
Deletes the current mail
Shift + Delete
Permanently deletes the current mail
Ctrl + Z
Undoes the last change
Ctrl + Y
Redoes the last change
F4
Brings up the Find dialog box
Shift + F4
Finds the next occurence of the search string
Ctrl + R
Brings up the reply window for the current mail
Ctrl + Shift + R
Brings up the 'reply all' window for the current mail
Ctrl + P
Prints the current mail
F5
Sends and receives mail
Ref
I use Outlook for my mail client at work. We have an Exchange level spam filter which puts the word
Keyboard
F2
Select a file and press F2 to rename the file
F3
In Windows Explorer and on Desktop, pressing F3 brings up the Find dialog box
Alt + Enter
Select a file and press Alt + Enter to bring up its Properties dialog box
Alt + Space bar
Inside a window, press Alt + Spacebar to bring up the system menu of that window
Ctrl + Escape
Brings up the windows start menu
Alt + Tab
Lets you switch between currently running applications
Shift + Delete
Permanently deletes a file without moving it to Recycle Bin
Ctrl + A
Selects all the files in Windows Explorer. Also selects all the text in text boxes
Alt + F4
Closes the current window
Double left click
Double left click on the system icon of a window closes that window
Ctrl + Tab
Changes the tabs in a tabbed dialog box in forward direction. Also switches windows in an MDI form
Ctrl + Shift + Tab
Changes the tabs in a tabbed dialog box in backward direction
Ctrl + F6
Switches between the currently open child windows in an MDI form
Ctrl + Left click
Deselects a specific item from a selected range. Works in Windows explorer
Crtl + Alt + Delete
Brings up task manager in Windows 95/98. Brings up more options in NT/2000
Shift + F10
Brings up the context sensitive pop-up menu
Ctrl + W
Closes the current window
Windows Key + m
Minimizes all windows
Ctrl + (+) key from the right hand side of the keyboard
Rearranges the widths of the list view's columns properly
Internet Explorer
Ctrl + F
Brings up the Find dialog box
F5
Refreshes the page
Ctrl + N
Opens a new browser window
Alt + Home
Takes you to your homepage
Escape
Stops loading the current page
Ctrl + A
Selects the entire page
F11
Toggles between full-screen mode and normal mode
Backspace
Takes you to the previously loded page
Alt + Right arrow
Forwards you by one page in the available page stack
Alt + Left arrow
Takes you to the previous page in the available page stack
Ctrl + Enter
In the address bar, avoid typing http, ://www and .com by just typing the domain name and pressing Ctrl + Enter
Enter
Not sure if the domain name ends with .com or .net? Type the domain name & press enter. IE will search for the domain
F4
In IE 5.0, F4 drops down the address bar combo box
Ctrl + P
Prints the current page
Control + O
Brings up the 'file open' dialog box
Ctrl + H
Brings up the History window
Control + B
Brings up the 'Organize Favorites' dialog box
Ctrl + R
Reloads/refreshes the current page
Shift + Left click
Opens the clicked link in new window
Outlook
Alt + S
Sends the current mail
Ctrl + Enter
Sends the current mail
Ctrl + K
Resolves the email addresses from the address book
Alt + K
Resolves the email addresses from the address book
F7
Starts spell check
Ctrl + D
Deletes the current mail
Shift + Delete
Permanently deletes the current mail
Ctrl + Z
Undoes the last change
Ctrl + Y
Redoes the last change
F4
Brings up the Find dialog box
Shift + F4
Finds the next occurence of the search string
Ctrl + R
Brings up the reply window for the current mail
Ctrl + Shift + R
Brings up the 'reply all' window for the current mail
Ctrl + P
Prints the current mail
F5
Sends and receives mail
Ref
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Google Docs not there yet
For a collaboration tool, our group decided to give GoogleDocs a try. There were a few glitches at first - the requirement of having a GMail address to log in with - but eventually, we had a document that multiple people could edit. It had some cool features like only allowing one person to edit the document at a time so no-one's changes got over-written and an author/timestamp on changed sections. At first blush, I was pretty happy with it; today, not so much.
All day I have been trying to make changes to a document created by one of my classmates and all day, I've been getting the following error message:
All day I have been trying to make changes to a document created by one of my classmates and all day, I've been getting the following error message:
Of course, I have no problem editing/saving the document I created, only saving the shared document (so it's not MY network that's having problems). Not to be so easily stymied, I searched the Google help forum for suggestions. I found a number of posts alluding to this problem - it seems to have plagued GoogleDocs from day one. Sure, I didn't pay anything for it but, it seems, you get what you pay for.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
A case against Blogs
Some people are writers; they can think of something interesting and clever to say every day, day after day, week after week. Some of us are Geeks; we think of something interesting and clever to say and say it over and over again to anyone who will listen until people start avoiding us in the halls.
I'm not very excited about having a Blog. I could tell you about my interactions with a Cellphone or Keyboard today - clearly technology - but not very interesting for me to write or you to read. If the purpose of the Blog assignment was to show how easy it is to set up a Blog, I get it already. Day three and I'm a convert. It's a piece of cake. If the purpose of the Blog assignment is to make us think about tech in our lives every day then woo-hoo. I use tech. I use it every day. Can I go home now?
A better idea (in my mind, of course) would be to assign each person to write a substantive, interesting and well thought out post once a week to the Moodle forum. Our classmates are much more likely to read and comment on them there. There would be less "today I used a stop light to avoid hitting an oncoming car" and more "here is this cool thing I learned."
The cool thing I learned today is that you can't just share a Google document with any email address, it has to be a GMail address. If anyone knows differently, I would love to hear how it's done.
I'm not very excited about having a Blog. I could tell you about my interactions with a Cellphone or Keyboard today - clearly technology - but not very interesting for me to write or you to read. If the purpose of the Blog assignment was to show how easy it is to set up a Blog, I get it already. Day three and I'm a convert. It's a piece of cake. If the purpose of the Blog assignment is to make us think about tech in our lives every day then woo-hoo. I use tech. I use it every day. Can I go home now?
A better idea (in my mind, of course) would be to assign each person to write a substantive, interesting and well thought out post once a week to the Moodle forum. Our classmates are much more likely to read and comment on them there. There would be less "today I used a stop light to avoid hitting an oncoming car" and more "here is this cool thing I learned."
The cool thing I learned today is that you can't just share a Google document with any email address, it has to be a GMail address. If anyone knows differently, I would love to hear how it's done.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Why
So, why Blogger.com? Did I carefully evaluate each available blog for it's strengths and weaknesses? Well, no. Did I survey all of my friends to see which ones they preferred and why? Um, no again. Random choice? Interestingly enough, no again. I chose Blogger.com for the same reason most people choose Microsoft Word as their document editors. I already had a GMail account. I don't need to remember a separate login and password. I am familiar with character of the software. The Blog is well integrated into a technology that I already use.
Is Blogger.com the best bogging platform in the world? I don't know and frankly don't care much. It does the job I want it to, has zero learning curve and I didn't waste any time choosing it.
I already have an idea for tomorrows post ... "In defense of late adoption"
Chow!
Is Blogger.com the best bogging platform in the world? I don't know and frankly don't care much. It does the job I want it to, has zero learning curve and I didn't waste any time choosing it.
I already have an idea for tomorrows post ... "In defense of late adoption"
Chow!
Sunday, September 9, 2007
The first day of the rest of the semester
Well, I did it; I started a Blog. Signing up was a snap, I probably spent less than a minute start to finish and here I am. I have to say I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't required by Technical Fluency.
Since this is a technology blog ... I met the newest version of Microsoft Office this weekend. I can't say I'm much impressed, it took my longer to find the print button than it did to write the couple paragraph Bio (also for Technical Fluency) I hate fighting with the borders and margins and tabs and general helpfulness of word. Give me TextPad any day.
So, I started my Bio, ran out of time before class and emailed the document to myself to finish at home.
Cool:
the document auto-zipped when I sent it. I didn't realize it happened until I got home so I don't know whether the new Word document format is auto-zipped when stored on the hard-drive or if Gmail somehow did it. Anybody out there using the newest Office care to comment?
Not Cool:
When I went to open it, my copy of Office 2002 couldn't read the new format. Good old Microsoft - when a money making idea hits them, they run with it. "If we made it backwards compatible, nobody would buy our new 'improved' software." Fortunately, a couple minutes of Googling (verb) came up with a Microsoft compatibility pack which I downloaded, installed and voila ... I could read the document I had uploaded.
Since this is a technology blog ... I met the newest version of Microsoft Office this weekend. I can't say I'm much impressed, it took my longer to find the print button than it did to write the couple paragraph Bio (also for Technical Fluency) I hate fighting with the borders and margins and tabs and general helpfulness of word. Give me TextPad any day.
So, I started my Bio, ran out of time before class and emailed the document to myself to finish at home.
Cool:
the document auto-zipped when I sent it. I didn't realize it happened until I got home so I don't know whether the new Word document format is auto-zipped when stored on the hard-drive or if Gmail somehow did it. Anybody out there using the newest Office care to comment?
Not Cool:
When I went to open it, my copy of Office 2002 couldn't read the new format. Good old Microsoft - when a money making idea hits them, they run with it. "If we made it backwards compatible, nobody would buy our new 'improved' software." Fortunately, a couple minutes of Googling (verb) came up with a Microsoft compatibility pack which I downloaded, installed and voila ... I could read the document I had uploaded.
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