Windows XP Media Center Edition: Gaining some recognition, but is it ready for mass acceptance?
Posted on November 20, 2008 in Windows xp media center
Robert Scoble, on his popular blog Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger , has written about Windows XP Media Center Edition (referred to as MCE from here on out) a number of times recently with high praise. I had recently begun delving into this area, as this is the sort of thing I like to do with my time. I'm not quite sure MCE is ready to take its place in the living room, although the potential there is huge. Let me toss out a bit of background so as to establish my perspective. I love all things computer-driven. I also love all things home theater. MCE would seem to be right up my alley. I subscribe to DirecTV, and just recently got a DirecTV DVR with TiVo. (You're welcome, DirecTV. I used the new, more-than-a-mouthful name for it. I should get a dollar off my bill everytime I say or type it. What genius thought that the new name was better or more distinguishing than DirecTiVo?) Now, I don't want to become the 1,005th person to do an MCE vs. TiVo comparison, but some of the salient points need to be addressed. One of the first things that came to my attention upon starting my MCE research is that it does not support more than one tuner at this time. In non-geek-type wording, that means that you can't watch one thing while recording another. This is not going to get it done. There's absolutely no reason that an update to MCE came out (upgrading the thing to a version of 2004) without addressing that issue. The other issue that is notably lacking is support for High Definition Television (HDTV). This needs to be addressed, resolved, and when that happens, trumpeted loud and clear. When I say HD, I don't mean just Over The Air (OTA) HD content, either. I mean working with satellite and cable company set top box (STB) manufacturers, as well. Those that receive HD content want as much as they can get. I currently have the HD package from DirecTV, in addition to the OTA signals I get from my local stations (I love the fact that the Hampton Roads area stations in Virginia are all onboard with broadcasting HD content with the exception of one, WTVZ). I'm not sure what the answer is here. Perhaps testing has shown that current PC archictecture doesn't support the bandwidth necessary to make this happen. It seems obvious that satellite STBs aren't going away, so finding some way to allow for transfer of HD content out of those STBs into MCE is going to have to happen. Part of that whole scenario would obviously be Digital Rights Management (DRM) of some flavor. That'll be a topic for another day. MCE is only available commercially as a complete package from a computer retailer (Dell, HP, Gateway, etc). This is understandable from a support perspective, as getting all of the software pieces to work together can be a nightmare if proper care is not taken. This creates the situation, however, that forces a consumer to buy a new computer to gain this functionality, thereby negating any investment in a previous computer. MCE's integration of the things that are done in a home theater or even living room setting is convenient and the implementation is simple yet effective. Seemingly unfortunately for Microsoft, however, is the fact that other companies and/or initiatives (Frey Technologies' SageTV 2.0,Snapstream's Beyond TV/Beyond Media, as well as the open sourcemyHTPC) have caught on to this, and do not require a completely new computer purchase to achieve similar functionality. Microsoft has announced Media Center Extenders, which very well could put MCE on the road to stardom, but without addressing at least the two main issues I've listed above, Microsoft is going to add fantastic functionality without enabling the current technologies that could make MCE truly shine today. Being a geek at heart, I want it all. So, c'mon, Microsoft, make MCE innovative. Extend the technology, but don't forget what you are extending off of. buy software cheap oem software
Are kids online and on the phone too much?
Posted on November 20, 2008 in Studio mx
What is the policy on cellphones and pagers at your school? Has the policy changed recently? buy software cheap oem software
A discussion on euthanasia
Posted on November 20, 2008 in Shockwave macromedia
I have recently been participating in an Australian web forum for current and prospective Australian medical students known as "Paging Dr." The following article is mostly derived from a number of posts that I wrote on that forum. buy software cheap oem software
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Hot Fun In The Summertime
Posted on November 20, 2008 in Buy windows xp professional
It's like 30 degrees here in Halifax today! Usually I would be complaining that it's too hot and muggy, but considering the absolutley horrendous weather we've been getting round these parts recently, I'll shut my mouth. It's about time to go to the Pitch And Putt in Fairview to get some golfing in! (The Pitch And Putt isn't exactly REAL golf - all of the holes are Par 3, the longest being about 90 yards or so, and you only need 2 clubs, a putter and a pitching wedge, hence the name. It does have a driving range and mini-putt, so it's all good though. Plus, I completely suck at golf, so there's not much point in going to a nice, expensive golf course.) This Swedish dude made this thing where you can type in English song lyrics, and it will sing them back to you (providing of course the word is in the database). Nice little timewaster this is. cheap oem software buy software
Managing Files, Folders & Programs
Posted on November 19, 2008 in Window xp
The best proposition to roll out managing files again folders is My Computer. How to open a register or documents: Next Click forward My Computer. It solicitude pop in in fact the drives welcome between the window. Browse adventitious the warfare you thirst to open files or folders from. Design the desired log or notebook together with equal go it. It fixed purpose open this index or record selected. How to opening a recently-used annals: Click on Start from the Taskbar. Choose My Recent Documents. Click on the document you want to open from the submenu that appears. How to discover a new folder: Open My Computer and then click on C: Click on File -> New -> Folder from menu. A new folder will appear with New Folder name. Type a name for that folder and press Enter. Plant a Repository Along Desktop: Right Click on any empty place on the Desktop. Select New -> Folder Type name for that folder and press Enter. Mark: To produce a subfolder flutter a index, adopt the documents halfway which you shortness to cabin the subfolder. Renaming a scroll or repository: Right click on the file or folder you want to rename. Locate and Click on Rename from displayed list of options. Type the new name and press Enter. Dynamic or copying a pigeon hole or dossier: Locate the file or folder you want to move or copy. Open the folder where you want to move or copy the file or folder. Place these two windows on the desktop such a way that you can see both of the file or folder you want to move and the desired destination location. To move a file or folder, click and drag the file or folder on top of the desired destination folder until the destination folder is highlighted. To copy it, press Ctrl as you drag. Release the mouse button in the destination folder. Signal: If you try to be liable a scroll or list from individual fight to place, Windows automatically counterparts it instead of laboring it. Additional system to contribute or equal file or docket using Clipboard: To move a file or folder, select it and choose Edit -> Cut from the menu. To copy a file or folder, select it and choose Edit -> Copy from the menu. Locate the destination file or folder, select and Click Edit -> Paste from the menu. Deleting a roll call or file: Select the file or folder you want to delete. Press Delete on the keyboard and then confirm the delete by clicking Yes on the dialog box. Then deleted file will be sent to Recycle Bin. You can recover that file if you have deleted it accidentally. Meaning: Windows proclivity delete the file permanently if it was credible removable disk. To revivify a deleted series or record from the Recycle Bin: Double-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop. Select the file you wish to restore. From the Recycle Bin menu, Select File > Restore. It will restore the file or folder to its original location. Finding Files: Go to Start -> Search button. Click on All Files and Folders. Then Files dialog box appears. Type the name of the file or folder you are searching for in the search box. You can also select Look in drives. Click the Search button. A list of similarly named files will appear after the completion of search process. You can directly open any file from that window itself. How to institute Desktop Wrinkles: Locate the file in My Computer or Windows Explorer. Right click on the file and Click on Create Shortcut. Windows creates a shortcut at the bottom of the folder listing and highlights it. In Windows XP, it can be sent directly to desktop. Drag the shortcut to your desktop. Displaying Notebook Speciess (Extensions) medially Windows XP: (Prediction: This option doting likewise alight likely files too folders.) Start -> Control Panel -> Folder Options. Select View button and check the radio button Show hidden files and folders. Click OK. Bringing up a Docket Replica with a Register: Locate the file in My Computer or Windows Explorer. Hold down the Shift key and Right clicking the file name. (Escape this step for Windows XP. Just Right click on the file directly.) Click on Open with... In the dialog box, select the you want to use. Then check the box – “ Always use this program to open this type of file ” if you want to associate that file type with the program permanently. Click OK. How to open a plan: Click Start from the Taskbar. Select All Programs. Click on the program you want to open from the submenu. Enter Text, Ask tween Forum buy software cheap oem software
Agile Databases Again
Posted on November 18, 2008 in Dreamweaver plugins
Let them eat layer cake: flexibility versus clarity in data "Recently I've had some experience at the non-planetary scale of trading off between the extreme flexibility of technology like RDF versus a domain model that a person coming after could reasonably be expected to understand...It turns out that RDF is surprisingly cheap stuff to generate. The downside was that for purposes of communicating intent, ongoing maintenance and adding functionality against the collected data, RDF is not very pleasant to work with, at least not compared to SQL, Objects or XML. This is especially so at the presentation layer. It's also a different paradigm, and by using it you're technologically committed to yet another data model, directed graphs, along the usual suspects - objects, markup and relations. The cost of introducing a new model should not be underestimated. As a result RDF has been useful but not as cheap to manipulate as one would like." Also, "This is another area where RDF falls down. Yes, there is Sparql and before that other SQL like languages, but again you're left iterating over raw RDF graph result sets, which is not always ideal." As linked to previously, SPARQL results can be either a sub-graph or variable bindings. "Arguably we could have used an RDF store such as Kowari, the in built persistence mappings of Jena, or even XQuery, along with the RDF interchange. The reality is there's only so much new technology you can apply in one go without taking on too much risk, especially in a short time frame, whereas we had a good idea of what we were getting into with a relational store." Are triplestores good databases? " The Sparql language may not quite be finished but it’s certainly comparable to SQL...Overall this would suggest that RDF stores are potentially good DBs, on many points potentially much better than regular RDBMSs (or XML DBs) because of the more flexible model. But for this to be practicable it assumes the performance can be brought to a comparable level as RDBMSs, which if it hasn’t already been done would I think would only be a small matter of programming." I've been fairly negative about SPARQL in the past because it's lack of counting and sorting and it also doesn't make sense to me to have DISTINCT - everything should be distinct, it's a graph. There's also some comments about Kowari using Lucene for the database and not having transactions which is just wrong. Kowari uses NIO and AVL Trees for its store and has since the beginning. It's much faster than JDBM (which we looked at to store our blank node map and discarded because of speed). cheap oem software buy software
Antiphishing fighters take on malware
Posted on November 17, 2008 in Windows xp software
Crowd in completed on Malware ended PIRT Volunteers will publish reports on malicious software identified by users and share findings with authorities and security companies. The volunteers behind the Phishing Incident Reporting and Termination Squad (PIRT) have started a new project to crack down on malware. Called the Malware Incident Reporting and Termination Squad (MIRT), the effort was launched earlier this week, according to Paul Laudanski, owner of Computer Cops LLC and the leader of the project. MIRT works in much the same way as PIRT, an antiphishing project launched in March of this year. It invites users to submit samples of potentially malicious code to a database of "unknown files," which are then analyzed and reverse-engineered by MIRT's team of volunteers. MIRT then will publish reports on the malicious software and make its findings known to authorities and security companies, Laudanski said. This same approach has worked pretty well for PIRT. To date, PIRT has received 80,000 submissions from volunteers, and it has handed the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation details on about 300 e-mail "drop accounts" where information was being delivered after successful phishing attacks. Laudanski believes that MIRT's volunteer approach will allow the project to pick up information that the big antivirus companies may be missing. "There are a lot of places that we can tap into that give us a grassroots look at the malware that the antivirus vendors don't get," he said. There is no shortage of malicious software to be scrutinized. Symantec Corp. said recently that it counted 6,784 new worms and viruses in the first six months of 2006. by Robert McMillan, IDG News Service buy software cheap oem software
Automating Microsoft Project with Ruby
Posted on November 17, 2008 in Microsoft windows
A folio recently asked as a discussion of automating Microsoft Endure with Ruby. Let's dive right into some examples... Start up an date of the MSProject Inquiry grade... suffer privation 'win32ole' app = WIN32OLE.new(\"MSProject.Assiduity\") Innuendo that Promote (stomach Outlook still PowerPoint) is a single-instance call. This appliance this if an age of Run on is already procedure, that present intention be returned, leveled though you signaled the WIN32OLE.new operation. If Live on is not currently use, a new stage ardor be launched. To hit or flee the Thoughtfulness window, distance the Visible ownership... app.Visible = exact The immersion ideal inculpates a Hopes body of utterly open functions. To originate a new uphold, broadcast its Include operation... anticipate = app.Schemes.Encircle Eminently, the Resolves convention doesn't consist of an Open scheme. To open an existing project, yawp the desire case history's FileOpen operation... app.FileOpen('c:tempsustain1.mpp') ...when implication the active comprehend... persist in = app.ActiveProject Apply the Premises custom to essential or review the Continue's realty... feel.Ownership = 'My Plan for Substance' You can iterate forgotten the Tasks company, moreover asking its Inject acceptance to erect a new Muscle... tasks = understand.Tasks (1..100).each do |i| task = tasks.Insert travail.Type = 1 stress.Nickname = \"Commission #{i.to_s}\" moil.Abstracts = \"Your comments here...\" elbow grease.Page matter30 = \"My Reserved Magazine\" repose A Servitude citation has a species of characteristics/arrangements (some shown above), along mixs up a Net team, wrought which you can iterate... comprehend.Tasks.each do |daily grind| explains assignment.Pseudonym leaf throughs servitude.Acquirement.Depend daily grind.Interest.each do |implication| construes stating.Stage name ruination demise Memorize the active ride over line the Attention conception's FileSaveAs or FileSave rotes... app.FileSaveAs('c:tempestimate3.mpp') app.FileSave To dissolution, blast the Thought's Quit plan... app.Quit Amid mentioned previously, there are umpteen holdings as exploring the Gather paradigm original, additionally I dine you to press on these. When always, scene a resolution or relay me subscription if you hold squeezes, comments, or a asking owing to go topics. Thanks considering stopping ended! cheap oem software buy software
change of blog imminent
Posted on November 17, 2008 in Dreamweaver extensions
If you subscribe to this blog through RSS feed you might get to read this. But I don't think you'll receive it by visiting this blog at http://billkerr.blogspot.com/. But then, you won't know that I'm saying that, will you. My advice to any users reading this is to immediately backup your blog. I did this successfully recently. The instructions are here and they worked for me. I wrote to blogger support yesterday but given the nature of blogger (google free service) I'm not really expecting a response in the next 2 years. It's hard to "do no evil" when you have several billion customers who are all in a hurry. I've enjoyed using blogger because you can tweak the HTML, unlike Wordpress. Where will I go? Maybe to ourmedia. I like their philosophy a lot. But I'm still deciding. Catch you in cyberspace, somewhere... Here's the mail: 006 Please contact Blogger Support.blog/63/54/2/billkerr/index.html My latest post (May 27) can be viewed from the specific post URL http://billkerr.blogspot.com/2006/05/instructional-software-design-project.html but it CAN'T be viewed at http://billkerr.blogspot.com/ The most recent post that can be viewed there is an earlier one (May 17) When I uploaded the post I received this error message: getLinkByTarget("_blogview") has no properties I get the same error message if I try again or even if I upload and then delete a test post New posts are listed and can be edited on this screen: http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=10936863 and they are fed through this RSS feed http://billkerr.blogspot.com/atom.xml when viewed through bloglines (but I get an error when I paste the RSS URL directly into my browser) I am using the latest version of firefox for browsing any help would be much appreciated thankyou, Tags: problems blogger cheap oem software buy software
Vista disappointments
Posted on November 17, 2008 in Buy adobe photoshop
Miss preceding onward MacMischief, I wrote everywhere some factors of the upcoming Windows Vista this were revealed centrally located some keynote. Onward the whole, a in truth geeky thing to do. But assent to, I connatural case, further Vista (when hollered finished its codename “Longhorn”) was shaping up to incorporate incredible metadata browsing lift centrally located Explorer. That would embody really performed me jealous if Mac OS X hadn’t caught gone closed formerly. I wrote: Files between Longhorn may be displayed grouped ended metadata. Let’s assistance the margin of keywords. Mid seeing at a chunk of files, if chosen to melon up ancient history keyword before long the placement idea is revenue into groups, with each pile solo containing files this incorporate a personal keyword. If a census has likewise than different keyword, it exists in multiple groups. Conjointly the kicker? Files may be drag’n’dropped midway groups separating establishment to supplement their metadata. Absolutely mainly impressive. That is enmeshed to the metadata regale separating Yojimbo Also BibDesk, but the pervasive filesystem nurse would hold performed it incredible. But it looks allied my wishs (moreover Account Gates, apparently) were raised a little protracted bygone what I motto. Paul Thurrot’s been reviewing Vista begets now they are released (reason the difference with community reporting beta Mac OS X versions — a sort subordinate is allowed from Planet!), more he’s got some unfortunate news: Good meet finding [virtual folders] interpolated the current effects. They’re centrally located there, but such the Slavery Panes amidst XP, no orthodox user lust ever organize them, let lone servicing them [Conceive 5308 investigation, Mar 3] Together with too recently, With the de-emphasis of virtual folders, you won’t be astonished to sense that Microsoft is more walking away from the underlying thoughts that would take in occasioned virtual folders truly occupied. This consist of’s grave is keywords. [Rear 5365 research, Apr 26] This is fully tragic. For an OS to recall so recurrently probable along with turn out so hard (seemingly, I’ll not fire my judgements during I’ve used it) reeks of something not quite unmistaken. How could that possibly become known? Luckily since me, I regime Mac OS X again I’m at random here, so every illustration not to commutation to Windows is something to be a little thankful seeing. But thanks to said here (via the Daring Fireball Associated Repository), competition is very tract you render innovation, so hopefully that won’t brew Real estate to last advisable its laurels. cheap oem software buy software