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EOY G1G1 & DTV0
Joe M posted in free stuff, products on December 31st, 2008

Tomorrow is December 31.

The last day of 2008.

The OLPC XO G1G1 program ends for 2008.  Tomorrow is the last day to place your order, if you want to participate in the program.

(I have had a blast with mine, and it’s a great way to lend a helping hand to a child in a foreign land.  Don’t forget the $200 tax write-off.  A child will be appreciative, perhaps, even your own!)

If you want to get a coupon for $40 off on a Digital TV converter, tomorrow is the last day.

The boxes run between $50 and $80.

You can receive up to two coupons per household.

If you want a coupon, be sure to visit www.dtv2009.gov.

My IT Predictions For 20091
Joe M posted in Musing, opinion on December 30th, 2008

I am sure everyone will weigh in on this…

But I have to put my 2 cents worth in for my predictions in Information Technology in 2009.

What exactly will happen?

Let me begin by saying, I am not a psychic.

My only qualification to make these predictions is…

I have been around IT for a few years now.  In my opinion everything happens in cycles.

The following is my observation of the current cycle in Information Technology.

So, with all of the qualifiers out of the way, let’s get to it.

1. Security – With the economy in a decline and people losing their jobs, the hard truth is… we can expect more malware, more viruses, more phishing and more exploits; even some new ones.  As economies suffer, the crime rate goes up.  The difference is, now the crimes can be perpetrated from a remote location. This will be one area in IT (in the business sector) that will grow in 2009.  Companies will be more security conscious than ever before, and will make room in their budget for IT security professionals. Wide Area, anti-virus, anti-malware, Routing and Encryption will all be areas to watch.

2. Windows Re-acceptance – Don’t expect the business world to begin upgrades in 2009, but if Windows 7 pans out, you can expect the business world to make plans to upgrade in 2010.  How will Windows 7 sell in the private sector?  That will depend on the pricing structure that Microsoft sets up.  I don’t expect many people beyond Hardcore Windows Geeks and new machine buyers to be running W7, unless Microsoft makes it a real bargain.

3. Hardware Procurement Decline – In the business and private sector, people will be looking for ways to stretch their hardware over 2009.  With that said, I believe that better deals on hardware will be offered late third quarter and last quarter 2009, to stimulate consumer spending.

4. Free Software Acceptance – More people in the private sector will be looking for corners to cut during 2009.  I expect the use of free Windows software to rise in 2009.  What will be interesting is the profit model for free software, and how it evolves.  Will it be ad-supported?

5. Failure for Linux Support – I expect some strides to be made in Linux support in 2009, but not to the point that Linux will be gaining a major market share.  As in previous years, it will be more profitable for OEMs to produce Windows drivers and software, which help them to realize a profit faster.  Companies will not be taking fewer risks in 2009, so don’t expect daring or bold moves for Linux on the business desktop any time soon.

I do expect the private sector to have a few more Linux-curious, and a few more that will try it in 2009.  Will it replace their Windows desktop?  Probably not.  The people that try it, will try it dual boot; but use Windows as their primary desktop.

If I had to sum 2009 up in one word for the business sector?

Conservatism.

The word for 2009 for the private sector?

Frugality.

These may seem like ’safe’ predictions.

In all actuality, I hope that some of them are wrong!

Utilizing The XO With My Recent Time Off0
Joe M posted in free stuff on December 29th, 2008

Having had a little time off during the holidays, I pulled out my OLPC XO laptop.

I updated the OS on it, and have carried it with me, during my visits to friends and family.

The biggest activity that I have been using it for is reading.

Opening a PDF file, and flipping the screen around, I have used it more for an eBook reader than anything else.

I have had it for almost a year, now.

I have to say, I have gotten my money’s worth out of it.

The items I have read, as of late?

Being a science fiction fan, I have been familiarizing myself with the works of Cory Doctorow.

Cory is one of the writers and founders of boingboing.net.

From humor to oddities, to politics (which I avoid like the plague), you can find a broad spectrum of items on boingboing.

As for the books by Cory — I read Little Brother and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.

These activities have dominated my use of the XO, during my time off.

In both, you will come across some different ideas, as well as some background info and some howtos.

Both were intriguing books, but I found Little Brother to be the one for which I had more of a preference.

You can also buy Little Brother and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom in print version from Amazon.

I am constantly in search of new reading materials, and will share more of my findings in future posts.

Advice On Buying A Car0
Joe M posted in Howto, homelife on December 28th, 2008

I talked to a friend of mine today.

She is taking a teenager to buy a car.

This video popped into my mind.

Note:  Some of the language used in this video may be mildly offensive to some people.

How I Got The iAxe Working On Ubuntu Linux5
Joe M posted in Howto, free stuff, products on December 26th, 2008

After I bought the iAxe, I spent a couple of days playing around with it.  I plugged it in on my Ubuntu (8.10) box.

I  spent a little time reading up on Jack and ALSA.

The sound architecture and client/server documentation for Linux leaves a little to be desired.  I never did find a definitive and plain-English explanation for how it all fits together.

I did manage to get the guitar working, using Jack, Jack Control and Creox-C.

The plugs, physically, went as follows:

1.  Plug the USB jack from the guitar into the USB plug on my PC/laptop.

2.  Plug headphones into the guitar, in the jack next to the USB plug.  I used a small set of headphones, so I used an adapter to make it fit.

As for the software, I took it step by step, as follows:

1.  System… Preferences… Sounds.  Made sure sound capture is set up to point to ALSA.

2.  Opened the console or Linux command prompt.

The second item is my USB guitar.

3.  Install and run Jack and Jack Control.

I used the console to install jack with this command:

sudo apt-get install jackd qjackctl

You could also use Synaptic Package Manager, it’s pretty easy, either way.

4.  Once jackd and qjackctl are installed… run Jack Control.

Applications… Sound and Video… Jack Control

5.  Click setup.

Change bitrate, Input and Output devices.   I changed the bitrate to 48000.  I used the arrow to the right of Input and Output devices to select the guitar.  I also selected Soft Mode, Monitor and H/W Monitor.

Click OK.

Click Messages.  This will give you a log of any errors or problems you encounter.

Click the Start button.

Leave Jack Control running.

6. Start Creox-C

Click Effector… Play, or click the gear icon on the button bar.

At that point, I had all the effects working.

I did play around with a couple of the settings in Creox.

There is a setting under Effector… Options, for the input and output.  You will have to stop the effects in Creox to make the change.

Other than that, Jack and Creox-C are working like a champ.

I wish that I knew more about the inner details of Jack and Creox-C to be able to explain every detail of why this worked for me.

Using a USB guitar, Jack and Creox-C are all new and mystical territory for me; but I wanted to post my steps online in hopes that it would help someone else.  On my GTD list, I want to understand exactly how the changes I made affect the overall technical picture.

I really hacked my way through it, with a little help from this.

The USB functions for playing around, recording and experimenting with the guitar look great.

As for grabbing your laptop, guitar and heading over to a friend’s house to play… I am not real sure about.

I would venture to guess that it might be just as easy (if not easier) to grab your amp, cord and guitar.

Either way, it’s still intriguing to know you have the option.

Finding More Content For Your iPod0
Joe M posted in Howto, free stuff on December 24th, 2008

I like to find different things to populate my iPod.

Music is great, and podcasts are fantastic.

On occasion, you find a great seminar or an extended explanation that is posted on one of the video sharing sites.

There are loads of audio-centric videos across the internet.

Using Firefox and Download Helper, you can save the file to your hard drive.

Download Helper is a Firefox extension that saves the file in flash format.

Once the file is on your hard drive in flash format, you have to convert it.

ffmpeg is an open source converter, suitable to the task.

On linux, you open the console and navigate to the directory to which you downloaded the file.

(Download Helper usually puts it in the dwhelper directory inside your home directory.)

From the command line:

ffmpeg -i videoname.flv -f mp3 -vn -acodec copy videoname.mp3

The response:

FFmpeg version r11872+debian_3:0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
configuration: –enable-gpl –enable-pp –enable-swscaler –enable-x11grab –prefix=/usr –enable-libgsm –enable-libtheora –enable-libvorbis –enable-pthreads –disable-strip –enable-libfaad –enable-libfaadbin –enable-liba52 –enable-liba52bin –enable-libdc1394 –disable-armv5te –disable-armv6 –disable-altivec –disable-vis –enable-shared –disable-static
libavutil version: 49.6.0
libavcodec version: 51.50.0
libavformat version: 52.7.0
libavdevice version: 52.0.0
built on Oct  3 2008 22:40:31, gcc: 4.3.2

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 1000.00 (1000/1) -> 29.92 (359/12)
Input #0, flv, from ‘videoname.flv’:
Duration: 00:05:58.9, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 64 kb/s
Stream #0.0: Video: flv, yuv420p, 320×240 [PAR 0:1 DAR 0:1], 29.92 tb(r)
Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 22050 Hz, mono, 64 kb/s
Output #0, mp3, to ‘videoname.mp3′:
Stream #0.0: Audio: 0×0000, 22050 Hz, mono, 64 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.1 -> #0.0
Press [q] to stop encoding
size=    2804kB time=358.9 bitrate=  64.0kbits/s
video:0kB audio:2804kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.001080%

If you get any error messages, you may have to install ffmpeg.  The easiest way is to use Synaptic Package Manager, which is pretty straight-forward.

Once the file is converted to MP3, I can now use GTKpod or one of the other iPod friendly apps on Linux to copy it over to my iPod.

ffmpeg is also available for Windows.  The install and the software may be a little hard to find.

For a Windows GUI alternative for ffmpeg, you can also use Media Coder, install it directly that will include the ffmpeg suite of utilities and codecs.

You can also use Floola to transfer your new MP3 files, should you have any problems with your existing iPod software.

Once you break beyond the barrier between flash and audio conversion, you’ll find yourself adding several other audio items to your iPod.

Protecting Your Household With K9 Web Protection1
Joe M posted in Home Support, free stuff on December 23rd, 2008

I did some research for a friend of mine, earlier today.

He wants an application to monitor and block questionable content in his home.

I have come across this request, several times.

In the past, I have used Cybersitter and have been pleased with the results.

Since his budget is tight, he wanted me to find a free alternative to try, prior to having to pay for a package.

The requirements were as follows:

1. It has to run on a Windows environment.

2. It has to be free, for the obvious, economical reasons.

3. It should be easy to use.

After reading several reviews, forums and other websites…

I came across K9 Web Protection.

It’s free for home use, but you do have to register for a license.

The interface from the documentation looks great.

It looks to have as much or as little control (10 ft or 30,000 ft) as you want to administer.

There is an extensive monitoring and logging feature. According to a review on CNET, the logging feature is almost frightening.

The software engine was developed by Blue Coat.

There is a lack of a chat monitor. As a workaround, you could disable the ports on your router used for certain chat clients.

As a free offering, I do think that it is worth a try for anyone looking for such a function.

Most often, the more people that embrace an offering, and offer feedback — the better the software gets.

If you find that it does a good job for you, tell a friend!

The Empty Room0
Joe M posted in photos on December 22nd, 2008

How To Hack An Elevator0
Joe M posted in free stuff on December 21st, 2008

This one has been out for a while.

I will have to remember this, the next time I am on my way to the penthouse.

The Three Big Culprits0
Joe M posted in Home Support on December 20th, 2008

In my home, I have a big screen (50 inch Panasonic).

Attached to the Panasonic, I have a desktop machine by which I control remotely. I have a wireless card and a wireless keyboard / mouse combo.

Since I have not upgraded the Ubuntu install since 7.10, I decided it was high time to upgrade to 8.10.

After spending about an hour and a half trying to get Intrepid Ibex to install, I had to do some old-fashioned troubleshooting.

My suspicion was the hardware.

Sometimes troubleshooting hardware can be a pain.

The three biggest culprits of hardware:

1. Video card – usually it’s pretty straight forward. It either works, or it doesn’t.

2. Memory – usually, not as straight-forward. You can have a memory stick that passes the POST (Power On Self Test) but yet is still not functioning like it should be. The only way to test is by trial and error. If you have extra sticks to help test, all the better.

3. Hard drive – Probably the hardest one to spot of the three. If you have a spare, definitely keep it around if you like to tinker and do your own troubleshooting.

If you change out hardware, only to lose your video signal, most OEMs and Motherboard Manufacturers have a set of beeps that the machine will sound off.

Usually, these beeps will indicate either condition # 1 or condition # 2.

Ultimately, I spent an hour troubleshooting my problem with my Ubuntu installation. (I guess I am getting a little rusty.)

As it turns out, I had swapped out the hard drive, for a little larger one I had in surplus. The new hard drive was the culprit.

Once I replaced it with the former, the install took off.

Bang!

In 22 minutes, I was done with the install.

My Idea For A Retailer Rewards Strategy1
Joe M posted in Musing, opinion on December 19th, 2008

Today, I did a little more Christmas shopping.

I could say, “Winter Solstice,” or “Holiday Shopping.”

To me, I call it like I see it. I am shopping for Christmas.

This is the time of year for joy and good cheer.

Merry Christmas!

Season’s Greetings!

That’s until you get in one of the long lines at one of the retail stores.

Those long lines and the crowds can sometimes ‘do you in.’

Most people are friendly and courteous during the season.

Without letting the “Mr. Hyde” cynic have too much airplay on the personality airwaves…

There always seems to be a small percentage of shoppers that pretend that no one else is around, or that there is not a long line of people behind them.

Today, I was in a long line.

The cashier was helping a person choose some pants (while checking out.)

The person had about 10 or 12 items, which should have taken five minutes at most to ring up.

Thirty minutes later, the person finally made their pants selection (while still at the checkout counter) and completed their transaction.

Most people are patient and tolerable, but I think that even Job and Solomon would have had a problem maintaining their patience in scenarios like this, today.

I caught wind of one guy in another line who had a pre-written check (for $300), checking out with $200-someodd worth of merchandise. He was demanding his change in cash (which is a ‘no-no’ with most retails.)

Without hearing the resolution, what should have been a five-minute checkout turned into a twenty-minute transaction, involving the store manager and some bickering. This happened to the behest of the people stuck in line behind him.

Most of the time, you encounter people that simply want to get their items, make the purchase, and leave.

On occasion, you find a consumer that seems to ‘front-load’ their deals.

Another scenario?

I saw someone go through the entire grocery store, filling up two carts with goods. They got to the checkout. After letting the cashier ring up everything in both carts, they pulled out their checkbook. They wrote the check and presented it. For some reason, the cashier could not accept a check from them.

What do they do?

Leave both carts, full of meat and perishables right where they are, and walk out. Almost as if to punish the grocer for not accepting their check.

If you take a step back and look at the scenarios, most people would offer better ways of completing each deal.

In the pants scenario, the person should have taken the time to make their selection and get assistance either at the display, or at the service desk.

In the two subsequent scenarios, both of them could have gone to the service desk to get a courtesy approval before wasting everyone else’s time.

Since time is money, I pondered a potential discount strategy for some of the retailers.

What if…

Somehow you tracked a consumer’s time spent during checkout, and subsequently offered a discount or a reward based off of their ‘maintenance’ or ‘time-use’ value?

The people that have their items in order, have their money ready and complete the transactions get rewards or points based off of their ability to help the cashiers complete their transactions in a timely manner.

Over a year’s time, if you used trending information and averaged the checkout time for a consumer, you could offer them discounts and / or rewards based off of their low-maintenance value.

Call the program whatever you would like.

You would not penalize the consumers that are high maintenance, but you would offer the people that “line up their ducks” before completing their transactions incentive to do so.

You could tack the rewards on to existing programs, or you could create a new one.

I don’t work in retail. I am not an economist or a marketing person.

I am just a run-of-the-mill IT guy and blogger.

Just a thought, born out of the necessity of standing in line, during the holiday season.

And when you are out shopping, this season… Take the time to be courteous and pleasant to your fellow shoppers, and don’t give people trying to do their job ‘a hard time.’

You’ll be amazed at how it brightens both your and their experiences.

Back Up With Cobian Backup (Windows)0
Joe M posted in free stuff, products on December 18th, 2008

Backups.

Most of us are not very good at it, unless it’s done automatically for us.

I had to help a friend of mine with her backups today.

She had a Maxtor, One-Touch.

When you plug it in, there is an autorun feature that fires up.

What usually happens, is, the app starts. It then prompts you to install a client with which to run your backups.

I am not crazy about apps like this that come pre-installed. I have seen them mess up more than they fix, in the past.

I renamed the autorun functions on the Maxtor drive.

Instead, I used Cobian Backup 9, which you can find here.

Cobian has a great interface.  Straight and to the point.

You define tasks for each backup item that you want to perform.

It can be a file, a directory, or a whole disk.

The backups can be run manually (which we did to keep it simple), or they can be set to run automatically.

If the automation feature is used, the software must be installed as a service.  You get a prompt to do that, during the install process.

Cobian is pretty impressive.

It’s a mature application.  It offers full and incremental backups.

It will simply copy the directory to the backup destination, or will use file compression with 7-zip.

For more information, you can read the Cobian FAQ.

The older versions of the program are online and available for download, should you have reason to need them.

Cobian is free.  Version 9 is not Open Source, but the prior version is.

Hats off to Luis Cobian.

Running Windows? It’s Time To Update Internet Explorer0
Joe M posted in security on December 17th, 2008

A Zero Day Vulnerability has been discovered in Internet Explorer.

The vulnerability exists in such a way as to allow hackers to steer IE users to infected websites, and subsequently relinquish control over certain aspects of the user machine.

The exploit was discovered in Internet Explorer 7, but the earlier versions of the browser inherently have the exploit as well.

So, no matter which version of IE you are running, if you use it regularly, the best action is to update it ASAP.

Stay out of it until you can do the update, which will be available tomorrow.

The update should be available here.

In the meantime, you can run another browser.

My favorite is Firefox.

Opera is also available here.

Google Chrome shows promise, but some security experts have advised against using it until it has a little more chance to mature.

An Alternative Manager For Your iPod – Floola!1
Joe M posted in Home Support, free stuff, products on December 16th, 2008

I like to find ways to do things outside the norm.

I love alternatives.

I have always hated having to use iTunes to manage my iPod.  Not only the DRM drives me crazy, but I would just like to be able to do a few things beyond what iTunes offers.

Today, I stumbled across Floola.

Floola is an iPod management package that allows you to transfer music to and from your iPod.

It’s lightweight, with a small footprint.

Dragging and dropping songs into the import window, with the arrow, takes a little getting used to.

Floola offers a preference page with quite a few options.

You can install ffmpeg from inside of the preferences window.

It’s an open source app that allows you to convert between different audio and video formats.

Floola is free for Windows, Mac and Linux.

I am still playing with Floola, and it’s in beta.

The results look promising!

Hack Your Flashlight0
Joe M posted in Uncategorized on December 15th, 2008

Laser Flashlight Hack! – video powered by Metacafe

Quoted from Instructables:

Disclaimer: CAUTION! As you know…lasers can be dangerous. Never point them at any living object!T his is not a toy, and this should not be used like a conventional laser pointer. In other words, don’t use it in presentations, or to play with pets, or allow children to use it. It should only be operated by responsible persons who understand and respect the potential laser safety hazards.

For the full, step-by-step howto, visit the post at Instructables.

iChopping With The iAxe2
Joe M posted in free stuff, products on December 14th, 2008

Shopping online a couple weeks back, I came across the Behringer iAxe 393.

It’s a regular, fully-functional electric guitar with two exceptions… it has a USB plug and a headphone jack.

It comes with amplification software for Windows.  You get 30 days trial to play around with three ‘combo’ packages.

Once the 30 days are up, you have to choose which Combo (I, II or III) that you want and register to use it online.  Once you register it, you get a license number via email.

You enter the license number for the Combo of your choice, then that is the combo package that you use from then on.

If you want to use the other packages, you can purchase them on the Behringer site.

That perturbed me a little.  Being a free software addict, my two biggest gripes were:

1. Why is there no Linux support, readily available?

2. Why do you have to spend money on the additional packages?

The second gripe I can live with.

Digging in, I decided to try some free packages.

After looking around Sourceforge, I found CP-GFX.

I downloaded the Windows version and plugged in to my Windows machine.  It worked really well, with little setup or headache, beyond installing the package.

I tried the Linux version, but due to a lack of documentation, I was unable to get the source code to compile.  I downloaded the pre-compiled binaries and their respective libraries, also, but was unable to get them working.  (That’s a project for another day.)

Taking a little more time, I did some more Googling and came across Creox-C.

I had to install Jack and Jack Control Center.

After some experimentation and some research, I was finally able to get Jack going, and subsequently Creox-C working with the iAxe.

The iAxe is designed to plug into a PC through a USB cable, then route the processed effects back out to the headphone jack on the guitar.

I have had a blast with this little adventure.  For $99, the iAxe is a great deal.

I’d put my two gripes aside and buy it again.

I will give details of getting Jack and Creox-C going in another post.  My plans are to give detail and a complete ‘Howto’ as it related to my experience.

Windows 7 Shows Improvement0
Joe M posted in opinion on December 13th, 2008

There is an article from Infoworld shows Windows 7 beating Windows Vista in performance benchmarks.

It’s really not much of a surprise to me.

If you look back at the history of Windows version releases, those that directed at the consumer seem to have a certain methodology in performance measures.

If I remember correctly, Windows 95 went through two ‘not-so-pleasant’ releases, before Windows 95 B was finally released.

Windows 98 Second Edition was much better than Windows 98.

When you talk about a new edition to an OS, ideally, the OS has improvements and enhancements; as opposed to loads of fixes for bugs.

I am not a Mac Fan Boy, but I don’t remember Apple ever having their customers dissatisfied with overwhelming bugs or fixes.

And, I don’t remember anyone with a Mac complaining because, “The new version of Mac OS is so much slower.”

It seems that if the results to the benchmark tests are true, Microsoft may have been schooled, this time around.

They need to pay attention to their consumers, that buy or could buy their software… Not the technology partners looking to get Microsoft’s assistance in growing their bottom line.

Functionally, as long as Microsoft does not try to cripple their OS with DRM, anti-piracy measures or any other idiotic quirks; I don’t really care what they put under the hood, so to speak.

What I do care about, is being able to turn on my PC and have it boot in a shorter period of time.  I also would like it to be stable and secure.

If Windows 7 can deliver on those items, I might be up to give it a test drive.

The real question is, how much will it cost and will it be a good enough deal for the consumer to embrace?

I don’t think now, economically, is the time to ramp the tier in pricing.  Microsoft is going to have to be competitive in their offering.

Time is different now, than it was when Vista was released.  Stocks were up.  The DJI was up.

Now, there are troubles in the economy.

I may be living in the dark ages, but if you have an OS that costs more than the hardware, that just seems wrong.

If they make it a $400 or $500 license for the Operating System, that may not be much incentive for the consumer to help them hang on to their desktop market share.

When the marketing and price strategies come together at Microsoft, this time around, I think they need to keep in mind that the attitude used in the personal consumer budget is evolving into a more pessimistic one.

It’s going to take that attitude to survive in the coming months, even years.

The question that is in the back of my mind is…

Has the design and QA at Microsoft improved as a result of the consumer feedback from the Vista release?

Windows 7 looks promising, but so did 95 B, 98 SE and XP.

Shopping This Holiday Season – More Macho Hints0
Joe M posted in Howto, homelife on December 12th, 2008

Today I turned 44 years old.

It was a good day.

I spent the day with my parents. We went to a nearby town, shopping.

The crowd at the shopping center was not overwhelming. That’s good for a consumer, but not necessarily for the merchants and businesses.

I managed to tune into and make note of a few more ’strategies’ that the merchants and marketers use.

Do they try to ’slip one past you?’

It sure seems that way.

One tactic that I came across… I have seen it before. You see a rack or display of clothing. You see a sign that says, “$30.”

You see an assortment of coats. Some are plain, some are corduroy.  You pick one of each.

While checking out, something just does not seem right.  You have $60 worth of merchandise, but the total comes up to $80.

Still does not seem like a bad deal for two coats, but something from elementary math class screams, “red flag!”

Upon further investigation, you find out, that for one of the coats, the price is actually $45. It’s the corduroy coat.

Next, you ask the question, “I thought these were on sale?”

The clerk replies, “Only the plain coats are on sale.”

What do you do?

It’s not that much more in money, but it’s not what the sign led you to believe.

My best guess is, most people will squeeze the extra few dollars and forget the hassle of arguing.

It seems a little dishonest.  There is a sign.  The merchandise that is on the sign (in small print, of course) is on the rack and available.  So, it’s not false advertising.

The deception comes in when you are misled into believing that all the coats on the rack are on sale. Chances are, you are going to smile, bear it… and buy the coat anyway.

The other tactic that I spotted, is one that I have also seen before.

It involves buying more merchandise to get a mediocre deal on all of it.  Buy the first item full price, and get the second at a discount… or buy 2, full price, and get the third one free.

It’s not seemingly quite as deceptive as the first strategy; but what you’ll find is that you end up spending much more than you had originally planned.

Overall, there were some pretty good deals out there.  Of course, the merchants are trying to draw shoppers.  The best way to do it is to offer some good deals, or at least seemingly good deals.

These are still fresh on my mind.  If I go back tomorrow (and I probably will), here’s what I do:

1.  Window shop or browse first.  Take a pad and pen.  Take notes of potential purchases and places.  Do the comparisons.  (Remember taking tests in school?  The teacher always said, “Read all of the questions through carefully, before you begin to answer them.”  Still good advice.)

2.  Clearly understand the deal.  Brush up on your ‘head math.’  Most of the deals that we saw, involved a ticketed price and a percentage discount.  Be ready to walk away, if you don’t understand the discount.

3.  Don’t buy items or quantities that you would not normally buy in order to get a ‘good deal.’

4.  Evaluate each item as a single purchase.  If you only buy one, is it still a good deal?

5.  Coupons can offer some good savings, but steer away from qualifying amounts.  If you have to spend over a certain amount at the store in order to get the discount, you will find a huge bill for yourself at the end of the day.

Of course, there is an exception to every rule.  If you evaluate and carefully choose your options, you can get some great deals.

We went to the same shopping center last year, about the same time.

In our assessment, comparing this year to last year, at this time… we discovered some deals that were actually better than the deals we got last year.

Trimming Down For The Holidays — Your Windows Install Disk0
Joe M posted in Home Support, free stuff on December 11th, 2008

The guys at nlite have created a utility to cut down on the apps that automatically get installed when you install Windows XP.

The way it works is, you download the utility.

You copy the contents of the i386 directory (see the guide for details) and run the utility.

It lets you remove items that automatically get installed like MSN Network, Outlook Express, etc.

You can also use it to slipstream service packs into your install CD image.

Once the utility has completed its job, you have an ISO image that you can now burn to another CD.

I can’t tell you how many times I have re-installed the OS, then run all the updates.

The downside, and it’s minor… you can’t automatically install programs.

Overall, it’s a definite way to save yourself time, especially if you find yourself re-installing Windows frequently.

I played around with it.  It was great, not having to remove MSN Messenger, MSN and the other minutia that gets installed while using the ‘plain vanilla’ disk from Microsoft.

There is also a Windows Vista version, vlite.

Revisit Windows Legacy Software At Oldversion.com0
Joe M posted in Home Support, free stuff on December 10th, 2008

Ideally, software companies usually try to improve upon products with each release.

Sometimes, it does not always work out that way.

Look at how many people are still running Windows XP!

There are definite performance differences between the two Operating Systems.

Some people still run Windows 2000, Windows ME (believe it or not) as well as Windows 98.  On occasion, you even come across someone running one of the three versions of Windows 95.

While Microsoft has discontinued support for many of those older OSes, you can still find some older updates for them on the Microsoft sites.  They just are not updating them anymore.

So any new vulnerabilities that are found won’t be fixed.

It’s still possible to run one of the older OSes, successfully, without getting disabled by something nasty; but it involves using the OS cautiously.

Just looking around, I came across oldversion.com.

There are several outdated pieces of software there, some even paid and licensed packages.

I am not sure what the legal ramifications are, or how the software companies react.

It’s nice to know there is a place where you can find some of the older applications and packages.

I am not sure how well all of these old packages and suites will work on XP or Vista.

If you decide to try any of the packages, make sure you do so at your own risk.  Update your virus scanner.

I cannot personally vouch for the validity or the integrity of the packages loaded there.

There are some P2P and file-sharing applications that are natively laced with unwanted behavior and functions.

While those apps themselves might not be harmful, the protocols and the practices that they employ to share files may be questionable.  That could ultimately lead to you downloading something destructive.

It’s still kind of comforting to know that there is a place to go to find the old stuff.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Google0
Joe M posted in products on December 9th, 2008

Cutting Down The Noise0
Joe M posted in Home Support, Howto on December 8th, 2008

Over the weekend, the noise from my Targus laptop cooler was driving me nuts.

I tried blowing out the dust, using canned air.

No luck.

I tried tapping and bumping the cooler.  It would help for a few seconds, then start back.

The racket was intermittent.

What I finally resorted to?

Household oil.

I took the cooler apart, taking out the rubber stops.  I removed the four screws holding it together.

I peeled back the sticker half-way on each fan.

I put a drop of household oil on a q-tip and blotted it on the center of the fan assembly.

The trick is to apply the oil without applying too much.  Too much could ruin the fan and the electric motor.

I put the cooler back together and the results were quite pleasing.

It’s so quiet, now, I have to check it to make sure both fans are working.

I also took another cooler and did the same thing, this time with pencil lead.

Why pencil lead?

It contains graphite, and graphite is a good lubricant that won’t collect dirt.

I remember my dad sharing the tip with me, years ago, when I was a skateboarder.   We would take a tube of graphite and use it on the wheel bearings.

The problem with the oil?

I am afraid that over time it will collect dirt and dust and eventually wear out the fan assembly.

For both the oil and the pencil lead, if you can turn the fan while you are making the application, all the better.  If you can manage to apply power to the fan, while holding the q-tip or the pencil on the assembly, that’s the best.

If not, work the fan with your free hand and work it in manually.

In comparison, I think the fans with the oil are much quieter than the fans I used pencil lead on.

It may have been a matter of my ’shot-in-the-dark’ application process.

If the oil turns out to be a problem, it’s not really a big deal, considering a new laptop cooler is in the $15 to $30 range in price.

Find Out What’s Under the Hood0
Joe M posted in free stuff on December 6th, 2008

Whether you need to know what software is compatible with your system, how old your system is or if you are just plain curious; from time to time, you have to identify your processor and your motherboard.

The folks at CPUID offer a free utility to do just that.  It offers information on your processor, motherboard and memory.

Sometimes it’s just good to know what you have in your system.  You can also get BIOS information, and the basics of your motherboard and cache.

This is also helpful in making hardware upgrades.

CPUZ comes with an *.ini file that allows you to tweak some of the settings.

It’s available for most Windows versions.

Find Lost Partitions With Find And Mount0
Joe M posted in Home Support, free stuff on December 4th, 2008

If you have used a PC for very long, today that includes most of us, you know how entropy can take its toll.

Sometimes no matter how often you do your housekeeping, running scans and defragmenting, for one reason or another sometimes you have problems with your hard drive(s).

Partition Find and Mount will scan the drive(s) in your system and report a list of partitions.

It allows you to select the drive and choose a drive letter.  It works its magic, then allows you to access the drive, read-only.  That’s so you can copy files off of it.

There are 3 modes of scanning:  Fast Intellectual, Normal and Full.

Find and Mount also allows you to make image copies of partitions or the entire disk.

There is a free version and a pro version.  The difference is, the free version has a 512K/second transfer rate limitation.

The free version should be adequate for most personal tasks.

It’s free for personal use.

You can purchase a Pro Lifetime License for $43.95 USD.

Smells like… You’ve Been Practicing For 60 Hours!0
Joe M posted in Uncategorized on December 3rd, 2008

This kid had an argument with his mom and got his frustrations out — by teaching himself and practicing this song for 60 hours!

Talk about a way to harness your anger… and turn it into a POSITIVE!

Sungha Jung is 11 years old.

Fix Windows — All Of Windows — With Advanced SystemCare Free0
Joe M posted in Uncategorized on December 2nd, 2008

Just when I think nothing else can be done in the virus and spyware arena, http://www.iobit.com proves me wrong.

They offer a free, all-in-one package, Advanced SystemCare Free v3.

It’s a virus scanner, spyware scanner, disk defrag, reg cleaner, history cleaner and performance booster all in one, one click a day.  It also optimizes Windows and speeds up your internet connection.  It also cleans your temp and junk files.

They boast of improving system and internet performance up to 400%!

I have not tried it, but my friend Kevin was bowled over by it.

Makes me think it must be worth a try.

They have received several awards from MajorGeeks, CNET, PCWorld and ZDNet; just to name a few.

I will have to put this reference in my Windows Software Arsenal.

Continuing To Learn — At Home — For Free0
Joe M posted in free stuff, homelife on December 1st, 2008

I love to learn.  I love to challenge myself.

I am constantly looking for ways to pick up something new, to learn how to do a new task.

While the economy is in a questionable state, I figure this is a great pasttime.

For some time now, MIT has been offering their OpenCourseWare.

You can download classroom documents, lectures and test materials.

It’s free.

The difference is, it’s all offered without a degree.

Quoted from the OCW Website:

• OCW is not an MIT education.
• OCW does not grant degrees or certificates.
• OCW does not provide access to MIT faculty.
• Materials may not reflect entire content of the course.

This is designed for people with a thirst for knowledge, a thirst for learning or those that are just curious.

So… with the cost of ownership of the information so reasonable, it’s a great opportunity to ‘cram a little more info into the old noodle.’

From what I can tell, there will be topics and tasks that will require you to use your self-motivation to study in further detail.

If you want an opportunity to learn, this might be a great one.

The difference is, it will be an active one.

So, don’t expect the information just to leap into your skull.