Unhandled Perception: February 2006

Why Windows Vista Won't Suck

Why Windows Vista Won't Suck:

Major Kernel Overhaul
Networking stuff
Media Center Improvements
Major Audio Changes
DirectX 10
New Built-In Apps
Aero Glass and the New UI
Security, Security, and more Security

Link:
http://www.extremetech.com/...

Local Live (Preview) is now open

Check out the latest and greatest in mapping from Microsoft. This is the direction online mapping needs to move in.

With over 10 million images just for the Seattle map on Local Live, the storage required for mapping the US will be tremendous. I can't even imagine how much space it will take.

Quicktime / Real Player alternatives

If you are like me then you hate when applications install a bunch of garbage on top of the main application. Or they have the nerve to think I need to be running their application 24/7, have it keep chcking for updates, phone home with usage studies, or just push bloat to my system.

Two applications I vowed to never install again was Quicktime and Real Player. These two applications are notorious for being nothing but bloatware. With alot of sites video blogging and pushing content in Quicktime format I needed something to view these. Along comes the alternatives to the rescue (I have only installed the Quicktime and it work great)

Quicktime Alternative:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm

Real Alternative:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm

Last Freeware version

Last Freeware version is a website that offers the last version of some popular applications before they turned shareware or commercial.

I kinda like the idea but feel if you used the application for years (or just like the application) when it was freeware then you should support the application when its shareware - takes alot of work to create, support, and publize applications (check out my applications)

Link:
http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/

New Microsoft Maps Combine Photos, Directions

Will the New Microsoft Maps, that should be previewing today, be able to compete with Google Maps*?

Check out Preview Local Live later today.

* - I hate that Google moved the map to the right-hand size of the screen. Just doesn't feel right

Distributed computing cracks Enigma code

Distributed computing cracks Enigma code
"More than 60 years after the end of World War II, a distributed computing project has managed to crack a previously uncracked message that was encrypted using the Enigma machine."

Games That Pushed The Limits

Games That Pushed The Limits is a historical look at gaming systems and the games that pushed the system, and the developers.

Link;
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/limits.htm

How to they crack your passwords - Rainbow tables of course

If you have ever been curious on how they crack your passwords then read this article on Password Cracking with Rainbow Tables. Of course this is only one of many methods for getting through a password based security measure. Interesting none the less.

Link:
http://.../password-cracking-with-rainbowcrack-and-rainbow-tables/

Microsoft Unveils Windows Vista Product Lineup

Microsoft Unveils Windows Vista Product Lineup:

Windows Vista Business
Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Ultimate

There is also one more called Windows Vista Starter - for low level, entry computers in emerging markets (I think they mean 3rd world countries).

Wanna make a donation?

OQO has an extremely small tablet PC that is nothing short of the coolest piece of hardware I have yet to find.

So, if you want to contribute something feel free to just send one to my address.

Oh, and OQO if you want to send me one for a detailed review please do and I will gladly supply a detailed review.

(doesn't hurt to ask)

The scoop on Microsoft's Origami project

Is this the real deal or a clever 'slip':
http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/24/microsofts-origami-project/

Wufoo · Making forms easy + fast + fun.

Wufoo is one of the coolest web dev tools I have seen in a long time. After playing with the demo for a bit and being very impressed with how easy it was to layout and create a form I started wondering what will the final results be: will I get a pirce of server side code, some HTML to drop into my website where the results are stored on Wufoo's servers, or maybe just an HTML form where results are emailed to me. So, I went to the source and asked Wufoo for some clearification.

Ryan from Wufoo states:
"Our tool will be a hosted solution, where all of the forms reside on our server and users can view their data in multiple ways. They can subscribe to an RSS feed, have it emailed to them, download to excel, or use our custom web based viewing tool. In the future we will expand those ways of retrieving your data.

The HTML code will also be available for download, but no server side code is attached to it. If you would like to place a Wufoo form on your site, an API will be available for the submission and retreival of data. For example, you could have a poll on your site submit to Wufoo, and then you display your results to your users - all of which happens transparently."

Remember, this is in its very early stages and we have yet to see the API and the finalized version of the form editor.

Really the only suggestion I have at this point is to work on the Add Fields part of the form editor. I'm not sure why but I kinda felt like I was looking through a small opening at a vast selection and why click around on 1-2-3-4 to see the different field options. Option: Create arrows on the sides of the window and when moused over you move to the next quadrant. Like moving my mouse over an arrow on the right side of the window automatically scrolls to the number 2 window.Also, I'm hoping they include some common form templates as a starting point.

Link:
http://www.wufoo.com/

Windows Media Player 11 the video

Windows Media Player 11

They have come a long way, a quick look back

A quick look back to some websites humble beginnings;

Yahoo! - 1996

Yahoo! - Now

Google - 1998

Google - Now

Download.com - 1997

Download.com - Now

Veign - 2001

Veign - 2003

Veign - Now

Labels: google, veign, yahoo

Origami Project - What is it? What will it be?

Origami Project is coming March 2nd, 2006.

?

Counld it be

ie7.com

ie7.com - lol!

How long will that last.

Are these the laws that all applications unknowingly follow?

First, the laws;

Letts Law:
"All programs evolve until they can send email."

Zawinski's Law:
"Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail."

Furrygoat's Law:
"Every program attempts to expand until it can read RSS feeds."

To me, it seems alot of application unknowingly follow these laws. In fact, take a look at my Note-It application and you will see it not only sends email, but reads RSS feeds too.

Winamp 5.2 Easter Egg?

Just installed and went to the About screen.

Steps to see the easter egg:

Open the About screen
Click on the Winamp tab (at the top)
Hold the Ctrl key (or shift key) down and double click the animated Winamp logo

Seems DJ EGG and rOn has a small easter egg hidden in this release (may be in other releases).

Could this be a newly found easter egg in Winamp?

Winamp 5.2 Released

Winamp 5.2 Released with lots of fixes and features. Not sure why the Winamp homepage still shows the current release as 5.13 but it does.

Off to install the Full version now and see how it goes.

Oh, and watch the installer - On the 'Select Icons and Media Associations' step there are two options kinda hidden that I would recommend unchecking; eMusic Icon and offer for 50 free mp3's and AOL music now icon and offer for 30 day free trial.

Updated Link:
http://www.winamp.com/

updated links to the homepage which has now been updated with the 5.2 release

Create webpages through Google

Google's Page Creator is a free online tool that makes it easy for anyone to create and publish useful, attractive web pages in just minutes - no technical knowledge required.

Link:
http://pages.google.com/

Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good

Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good is a very interesting article on fast food.

Not really technology related but very interesting read.

Slax the Knoppix alternative

It was brought to my attention to check out Slax as an alternative to Knoppix. Just from the website I was pretty impressed. Why? Becuase they offer different levels of downloads all based on the base Slax build called Special Builds.

Description from the website:
"SLAX is fast and beautiful Linux operating system which fits on small (3.14") CD-ROM disc. It runs directly from the CD (or USB) without installing. The Live CD described here is based on the Slackware Linux distribution and uses Unification File System (also known as unionfs), allowing read-only filesystem to behave as a writable one, saving all changes to memory."

Special Builds:

SLAX Standard Edition - SLAX SE is a pocket operating system providing wide colection of useful software with Xwindow system and KDE desktop environment.
SLAX KillBill Edition - SLAX KB is a pocket operating system with the ability to run many Windows applications natively in Linux. It contains KDE, wine, dosbox and qemu.
SLAX Server Edition - SLAX SRV is a pocket operating system with many internet services ready to use. Includes DNS, DHCP, SMB, HTTP, FTP, MySQL, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, SSH.
SLAX Popcorn Edition - SLAX PE is a pocket operating system which fits even 128MB USB Flash Drives. It contains only XFce desktop, Mozilla Firefox, beep-XMMS, Gaim, AbiWord.
SLAX Frodo Edition - SLAX Frodo edition is the console base for all other SLAX releases. It doesn't contain almost anything, only full working Linux command prompt and drivers.

This is one to check out.

Top 10 Strangest MP3 Players

Link:
http://.../tech-gadget/top-10-strangest-mp3-players

Wireless USB: Future of USB

"Wireless USB (WUSB), a natural extension of USB, makes it easier than ever before to connect peripherals and consumer electronic devices to a host PC. As new consumer electronic products appear on the market, the demand for this type of interface grows. The USB-IF is expected to release a new wireless specification this year.

Wireless USB is based on the ultrawideband (UWB) technology which supports the same 480 Mbps data rate over a distance of two meters (about 6.6 feet). If the speed is lowered to 110 Mbps, UWB will go a longer distance (up to 10 meters or about 30 feet). UWB started in 1960 as military application capable of transferring data up to 480 Mbps over a distance of 20 meters. For home or office environments, this technology would be very practical. "

Link:
http://www.everythingusb.com/wireless_usb.html

Hacking Windows XP: Speed Up Your Boot

"Despite the relatively fast speed of Windows XP bootup time, this chapter will guide you through the steps of making the system boot up even faster. The changes discussed here should enable you to realize your bootup speed dreams.Your friends will then no doubt be impressed by your PC's superfast operation."

Link
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...

Protecting Files During System Restore

"Before you use System Restore, you should make sure that any critical files aren't residing on your desktop. While the wizard for System Restore says it will not cause you to lose recent work, such as documents or email, it's important to understand exactly what will be preserved, and what won't, in a System Restore.

The general rule is that all files in your My Documents folder are preserved, but files in other places are not necessarily preserved. This can be a problem if, like me, you sometimes use your desktop for temporary storage of a file or files you're working on or just downloaded."

Album art archive

A big collection of CD and DVD cover artwork over at Albumart.org. The search is fast, the design is clean, and the site is not too bad...

Link:
http://albumart.org/

Recover data when you accidently delete it

This site offers a listing of some pretty good free undeleters. While you are there check out some of the other lists they maintain: Corrupted Files, Password Recovery, or Failing Disks.

Did you have a problem installing Windows Defender?

When trying to install Windows Defender did you encounter this error message: "'Error 1609. An error occurred while applying security settings. User is not a valid user or group.'"?

Try this fix.

Don't let the error message discourage you from installing this great application.

What will 2007 be like? (From 1987)

What will 2007 be like? (From 1987) is an interesting article on what they thought the future would hold for technology (first couple questions)...

Any predictions for 2026? (post a comment)

Orangoo Spell Checker

Orangoo Spell Check - Online spell checking: This little application lets you spell correct from any system or computer that has Internet access.

Link:
http://orangoo.com/spell/

GanttProject 2.0 Released

GanttProject is a project scheduling application written in Java and featuring gantt chart, resource management, calendaring, import/export (MS Project, HTML, PDF, spreadsheets).

Open-source and free is always a plus.

Link:
http://ganttproject.sourceforge.net/index.php

Check out this post-it like application

Note-It is still one of the most popular applications I have created. Its a very simple to use, powerful and best of all, free application.

Features:

Append multiple notes to a single file
All text formating is now saved with the note file
Drag and drop text from most applications
Control the transparency of a note - let notes fade to the background
Store images inside a note - simply paste into the note
Show Special View notes and display information like computer memory, live clipboard viewer, and hard drive space
Minimize option lets you shrink a note to icon size
Spell checking capability
Hyperlink and URL detection support

Whats New:

Added Spell Checker
Added AutoSave on Close option
Added keyboard shortcuts
Added Insert Special menu
Added hyperlink and URL detection support
Added ability to choose any color for a note

Check it out and send me an email and tell me what you think.

Link:
http://www.veign.com/download_app.asp?app=102

Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD

Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD new version released.

What is it:
"Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.

It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on.
This will replace any Dos bootdisk in no time!"

...read up on the changes

Limewire Pro Free download

Did you know that you can get Limewire Pro for free? Why? Since Limewire is an Open Source application you can get the source and therefore compile the application for distribution.

What is Limewire?
"LimeWire is a file sharing program running on the Gnutella Network. It is open standard software running on an open protocol, free for the public to use. LimeWire allows you to share any file such as.mp3s, .avis, jpgs, tiffs, etc. Limewire is written in Java, and will run on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Sun, and other computing platforms. Publish your original content to the world without setting up a website!"

Link:
http://www.limewirepro.net.tc/

Doesn't get any cooler than this technology

Vic Divecha's Tech Blog: The World of Smartboards, Sympodiums is about to change

Thinkall.com Cancel Subscription page

First, read the story of Thinkall.com - in case you don't already know.

If you can even find the Cancel Subscription page you will find a pretty funny statement. The statement basically says we sent you 4 CD's, you keep two CD's for free, and the other CD's are $19.95 which is a huge savings on the software and do nothing as we will automatically charge your credit card.

WTF?

$19.95 per CD for software that can be downloaded for free? How is that any kind of savings? It just sounds like its taking advantage of people that don't know.

Just in case you want the software, I located it for you so you can download it now for free:

And if you can't download the software because of a slow internet connection or your on a pay-for-bandwidth connection then check out Snap Files (you can create a full CD of software with no catch)

Enjoy!

Better late than never with the Windows Defender release

You may have already heard that Microsoft released Windows Defender Beta 2 which was formaly known as MS Antispyware. This application is actually very good at what it does - find and actively protect your computer from spyware.

If you have not had the chance to try MS Antipyware (beta 1 name) or this application then download it and let perform a full system scan.

And before you ask this will take the place of Adaware and SpyBot Search & Destroy. You really won't need those applications with Defender running. Just leave Defender running in an auto-protect mode.

Funny thing is I saw the release late last night (or was it early this morning) but didn't followup to review it or post about it. After all that I'm now late to the game...

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/.../default.mspx

Online PDF converter

ExpressPDF is an online service that lets you convert your Microsoft Office documents to PDF.
This service can also convert Web pages to PDF !

Link:
http://www.expresspdf.com/

Brrreeeport

brrreeeport -- huh?

Windows XP/2000 Commands and Tools

Here's the ultimate Windows XP/2000 command list that will make any Linux user feel at home at the command prompt. A lot of these commands are intended for administrating a network, but they are great for savvy home users as well. We even listed which OS you need for these commands.

Link:
http://.../Windows/commands/index.aspx

Where to Upload Your Files

Where to Upload Your Files is a blog post that goes one beyond the file upload websites that I blogged about. I touched upon a few of the better upload sites but didn't get too much into the life of the file (how long the file would reside on their servers). This is a much more comprehensive list and worth the look.

Link:
http://.../where-to-upload-your-files.html

ThinkAll.com Creative download alternatives

In response to the popular posting I did about the poor business practices from Thinkall.com I will be posting download links to all software they are selling a subscription to.

The software may not be exact but these are my recommended applications in each category.

--Creative--

Video Editing Studio:

Windows Movie Maker 2:
http://www.microsoft.com/.../moviemaker/default.mspx

WAX:
http://www.debugmode.com/wax/

Music Editing Studio:

Audacity:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Animation Studio:

Blender:
http://www.blender.org

Photo & Image Studio:

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program):
http://www.gimp.org/

Paint.Net
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/

IrfanView:
http://www.irfanview.com/

Unhandled Perception From the mind of a developer.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006