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August 31, 2005
GM vs. Microsoft
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."
In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would Crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed an Illegal Operation" warning light.
7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.
THANK GOODNESS FOR HIWIRED! We're here for you when your computer drives your crazy!!
Please share this with your friends who love - but sometimes hate - their computer!
Update: Yes we know this is an internet joke that's old, but the point is well made. If you didn't know that then remember the Moon Maidens.
Posted by Lorie at 03:13 PM | Comments (0)
Today's Question: What IS bandwidth, anyway?
Bandwidth. You hear them talking about it in all the internet cable and DSL ads. But what does it mean to you?
What is a driver?
It's not just for golfing, limo's or taxi's. A driver is an important part of the function of your computer's devices. Most everything on your system has a driver. A driver is a small program that tells your system how to use a device.
A driver basically talks between your system and the device, and links it to the system. It tells the device how to handle the data the system sends to it or receives from it. Video drivers are a good example. You have to have a video driver in order to get your display. If you have a high powered video card, you certainly want to take advantage of all its capabilities. Without the proper driver, your system doesn't know how to tell your video adapter to send the images to your screen properly.
Drivers can let you set specific configurations fro your device as well. Printer drivers, for example, are where your printing preferences are kept.
Without the drivers, your system's devices remain parked. :)
Posted by Bernie at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)
What could it be from Apple? Bet on POD
Chizumatic a blog usually dedicated to Anime links to this article on Infinite Loop:
...the same old rumors that we've gotten sick and tired of already have sprung back to life in full force. What could it be? Video iPod? Video downloads from the iTunes Music Store? That god forsaken Motorola iTunes phone that we refuse to dedicate another entire post to until it's released? Flash-based iPod minis? New iPod minis? ALL FIVE OF THESE RUMORS, WRAPPED INTO ONE!?
All this has to do with a fancy announcement card from Apple to the press. CHIZUMATIC'S author; Steve Den Beste points to the IPOD and reminds us of this prediction 2 years ago:
Jobs primary duty to his stockholders is to find another business to move Apple into, during the breathing space available while the computer business slowly withers away.That's what I think this new music business is. I think Jobs is trying to reinvent the company. The idea is to create a new business which can survive and perhaps grow as Apple's computing business continues to decline. Some of this new business may involve hardware (e.g. the iPod and successive products) and a lot of it is software and merchandising. But the main thing this does is to eliminate Apple's crippling dependency on a small number of fickle suppliers.
of course as he admits he didn't think Apple would go to the x86 either, from the same article:
...And Apple cannot switch to the x86. (It's possible from the point of view of engineering, but it's impossible in terms of marketing, pricing and product viability. Besides which, even if Apple did, they'd still have to charge more than anyone else because of their software development overhead.) So in the long run, unless there's some sort of a pricing miracle on the 970, Apple's computer business is doomed.
This time I think he is right about the POD being Apple's future, rather than trying to make it on a pretty good PC with small market share, the IPOD and music is the key to Apple's future. Any Mac increase will likely be small potatoes in comparison, at least that's the sense I get from our calls. IPOD IPOD IPOD.
Well if it's IPOD all the time; HiWired is ready to help.
Posted by Peter at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
More worthy causes. Hurricane Relief
We've already mentioned one good cause Project Valour IT.
Well with things being how they are in New Orleans, Glenn has a comprehensive list of links to contribute to the relief effort.
This is another cause better than us, and we would encourage you to give as best you can.
Posted by Peter at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2005
Today's Question: Drivers me crazy
It is very common to run have people call with driver issues:
What is a driver?
The answer will be posted tomorrow, click the extended entry for yesterday's answer.
What is an operating system?
An operating system is a control language (note I said "a" not "the") installed on a system that determines how the computer works for users.
Most people are familiar with The Windows Operating systems such as 95-xp and Apple's systems but there are others out there such as Linux.
There are also special operating systems such as Solaris and UNIX plus older ones like VMS and CDC that are rarely used. A friend of mine actually worked with a fellow who wrote his own homemade OS which he attempted to sell.
Operating systems allow more complex operations without knowing machine language. Thanks to your operating system the complex becomes simple enough to that a layman can use their computer for many useful things and the experienced user can use a computer in even more complex ways.
When the Mac and the Windows OS were released it revolutionized computer use and the revolution continues today.
Posted by Peter at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2005
Today's Question: Operating systems
At least once a day during debugging I ask a customer for their operating system and they don't know what I mean. So today's question is:
What is an operating system?
The answer will be posted tomorrow, click the extended entry for yesterday's answer.
What exactly is a dump and what is it used for?
It addition to being the perpetual condition of my son's respective rooms a dump is a collection of values in a computer's registers at the time of a crash, or if done as a check , at a particular point in its run.
Dumps are used by programmers to see what values are in memory at the time of any kind of crash or abnormal program termination. When you get those messages asking you if you want to send Microsoft information on an error what you are sending are dump values and the condition of your PC at the time of the dump.
By going through a dump programmers can identify the cause of a crash and take steps to correct and or tweak programs to prevent future problems. This is a long drawn out process and there are always more crashes and new combinations since new programs are constantly being released.
A memory dump or registry dump might look like gibberish to you but it is a gold mine of info for a good developer looking to make the code for your program shine.
Posted by Peter at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2005
Hacking isn't just a game
Time reports on hackers trying to steal US secrets, what was the source?
Goaded by curiosity and a sense that he could help the U.S. defend itself against a new breed of enemy, Carpenter gave chase to the attackers. He hopped just as stealthily from computer to computer across the globe, chasing the spies as they hijacked a web of far-flung computers. Eventually he followed the trail to its apparent end, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. He found that the attacks emanated from just three Chinese routers that acted as the first connection point from a local network to the Internet.It was a stunning breakthrough. In the world of cyberspying, locating the attackers' country of origin is rare. China, in particular, is known for having poorly defended servers that outsiders from around the world commandeer as their unwitting launchpads. Now Chinese computers appeared to be the aggressors.
No comment from these guys.
via Drudge
Posted by Peter at 06:19 PM | Comments (0)
A cause even better than us!
HiWired's Worry Free PC plan provides you with support and services to keep your PC and data safe for a great price.
With the money you save consider dropping a few dollars to Project Valour-IT at the Soldiers Angels site.
They are raising money to purchase voice activated laptops for wounded servicemen.
It is not only a worthy cause but another amazing example of how technology changes everything.
Hat tip Michele Malkin
Posted by Peter at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)
Today's question: What a dump
Every now and then when an error shows up on a screen you may see a messages referring to a dump or a memory dump.
What exactly is a dump and what is it used for?
The answer will be posted tomorrow, click the extended entry for yesterday's answer.
What is fragmentation and how does a file get fragmented?
As hinted by the name fragmentation is when a file is broken into many parts. A highly fragmented file can have pieces of it written all over memory.
Files fragment naturally in a computer, when a file is written your PC will look for the first (non-reserved) empty space to put it in. If the entire file fits great it is not fragmented, if it doesn't then as much as possible of the file is written and instead on an end of file marker a flag will tell it where in memory to jump to for the rest of the file.
Because modern computers have tens of thousands of files (and that doesn't even consider files within files such as libraries) and are constantly doing writing and re-writing operations fragmentation can take place pretty quick. This slows down a system since when trying to load a needed file the processor needs to find all the fragments to load into RAM. When a system is defragmented the files are collected and re-written to reunite the missing parts.
As part of our WORRY FREE PC plan HiWired recommends a regular quarterly defrag of your system to keep things running smoothly.
Posted by Peter at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2005
Today's Question: Fragmentation
We will often give advice to defrag a system in order to make it run faster and cleaner. It sounds good but the question is:
What is fragmentation and how does a file get fragmented?
The answer will be posted tomorrow, click the extended entry for yesterday's answer.
What is the difference between RAM memory and hard drive memory?
RAM memory is Random Access Memory and is used as operating memory, that is: The memory used by programs running. The more RAM a system has the faster it can run program since that is the job of the ram. This memory consists of banks of chips and is temporary in nature so a reboot will usually clear it allow a program that might have failed to run prior to a reboot to work.
Your hard drive memory is of a more permanent nature. It is a physical disk which is designed for permanent storage. The larger the hard drive the more permanent data it can store on the system. The data is stored in magnetic fields on the drive and can be retrieved even if there has been no power to it for a while. As a hard drive ages its ability to retain the magnetic fields degrades and causes error and data loss.
To put it another way: Your music library is stored in your hard drive memory, but when you use an application to play music that runs in your RAM.
Posted by Peter at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)
Loose lips etc....
Military blogs are an interesting first hand source of info. I tend to read several, but unfortunately according to a release from the Army Chief of Staff we are not the only readers.
THE ENEMY AGGRESSIVELY "READS" OUR OPEN SOURCE AND CONTINUES TO EXPLOIT SUCH INFORMATION FOR USE AGAINST OUR FORCES. SOME SOLDIERS CONTINUE TO POST SENSITIVE INFORMATION TO INTERNET WEBSITES AND BLOGS,
The information revolution is amazing but can be used poorly. The question is since information is a weapon in war at what point will we see false info to confuse the foe that will confuse the reader at the same time? Are we seeing Moon Maiden moments?
via Blackfive
Update: I should have given credit here, but I'm trying to stay on Mike's good side.
Posted by Peter at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)
A different way to surf
This is cute.
However as Mike would like it better if I used different links you can check out that cool Sony, here, here, here and here.
Posted by Peter at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2005
A little fun
For something a bit different this week we are going have a daily question with the answer posted the next day.
The questions are going to be on topics that we often get asked about during customer calls. Each day we do this there will be a question followed by the answer to the previous day's question in the extended entry.
If you want to give your own answer feel free to leave it in the comments section.
Todays question is this:
What is the difference between RAM memory and hard drive memory?
Our answer will be posted tomorrow.
Posted by Peter at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2005
Oyez Oyez and problems persist
Just what we needed an identity theft scam that makes you think you've missed jury duty.
And if that news isn't bad enough maybe this is:
The report concludes that uncleaned spyware infections are festering in corporate networks and are letting in even more malware. According to the spyware report, more than 80 percent of enterprise desktops are infected with spyware. That report also found that the number of spyware traces in the wild has doubled and that possible spyware distribution sites have quadrupled since the last quarterly report was released.
and to show that bad news comes in threes read this from Reuters via A Man in the American Northeast
However good news is pending on his main page and we offer our congrats.
Posted by Peter at 04:55 PM | Comments (0)
Mini Vacation 2 is history.
Well Mini-Vacation II is history. Besides being the last person in the world to read this, we managed to hit, here, here, here and here.
Even though we did only day trips we managed to blow more money than we should have.
But now its back to the land of PC's and stories like this one. (via Jeff Jarvis)
Ok I confess I didn't read the book I listened to the books on tape version but I did read this one and am almost finished with this one too.
Posted by Peter at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2005
A Nifty Living Room Accessory
This particular living room, as shown on CNET would be a lovely thing to have in my humble opinion. A bit expensive but certainly less expensive than most solutions commercially available.
Not sure how my girlfriend would consider this idea, however. Still, it would be nifty.
Posted by at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2005
No pictures but vacation takes place
Yes I know I still haven't found the usb cable from the camera and posted pictures from Mini-Vacation I. Even so Mini-Vacation II starts as of now.
Regular blogging will resume on Wednesday, however the rest of the guys will still be around to pick up the slack.
Posted by Peter at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2005
Pishing for Pishing targets
This Wall Street Journal article shows some creative methods being used to teach people to avoid Pishing scams:
In recent months, nearly 10,000 New York state employees have received email messages that appeared to be official notices asking them to click on Web links and provide passwords and other confidential information about themselves.Those who complied received gentle slaps on the wrist from William Pelgrin, New York's chief information security officer, who explained that the seemingly authentic messages were crafted by state officials "to demonstrate how realistic attackers' fake emails can seem."
Such training can have drawbacks as demonstrated at West point:
"There have been quite a few cadets who have been duped," he says. Nonetheless, he says the exercise upset some cadets, who felt it exploited their inclination to follow an order from a colonel, no questions asked. He says the new edict is, "Ask questions first, then execute."
The smart thing to do is to pretend every e-mail is attached to your bank account, because if you're not careful it may be.
Hat tip to John who found the article but didn't have a chance to post it.
Posted by Peter at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)
And so it continues
Global Voices Online reports another blog site blocked in China.
No comment from Microsoft or Cisco.
As for the Chinese people; Gateway Pundit reports they have other things on their mind these days.
Posted by Peter at 08:03 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2005
Lots of pixels for small potatoes
The Zotob worm continues to get press even though it is "small potatoes"
He called the worm's effects "small potatoes" in terms of the potential damage, and anticipated that corporate information technology staffs would quickly neutralize the worms. Additionally, Windows 2000 is more than five years old, and Microsoft has released several new versions of its operating system and security overhauls since then, further limiting the exposure.
For small potatoes there seems to be a lot of interest. Of course August is a slow news month.
Must be slow for Blogs too, of course this is our line so we have an excuse.
Posted by Peter at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2005
Another legal attack on spyware
The Washington Post reports that a provider of popups is under legal attack.
180Solutions claims the affiliates used "botnets" -- large groupings of hacked, remote-controlled computers or "bots" -- to distribute and install their software. A single botnet can consist of thousands of computers, most sitting on desktops of innocent users who have no idea that a virus infection is allowing a hacker to use their PCs for illegal purposes.Online criminals have long used such networks to steal sensitive information from their victims, distribute junk e-mail and to wage debilitating "denial of service" attacks that inundate Web sites with so much bogus traffic that they can no longer accommodate legitimate visitors.
This is an attempt to improve its image and the figures below don't lie:
Viruses and spyware have created a huge market for security software and services. At-home computer users invested more than $2.6 billion in software to protect their computers during the past two years, according to a study released this month by Consumer Reports. Even with those protections in place, however, consumers spent more than $9 billion on computer repairs and parts due to damage inflicted by viruses and spyware.
You can't go wrong in PR going after these guys.
Posted by Peter at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)
It's news if it happens to you
A worm is hitting windows 2000 systems (and some xp as well) striking mainly business systems.
It appears to be a low level threat but since it hit CNN it becomes newsworthy.
If you need it a patch is available here.
UPDATE 8/17 Stephen Spruiell at the media blog apparently agrees with the title of this post.
Posted by Peter at 09:03 PM | Comments (2)
IDE Raids... Good or Evil?
Serial ATA connections for IDE hard drives are all over the place now. SATA has great transfer rates. And a properly configured RAID can make it even better.
For those of you who don't know, a RAID is a set of multiple hard drives in a computer. There was a time not so very long ago that the only place you would find such a setup would be on a large server, or in the extreme enthusiast's PC. It was also true at the time that you absolutely HAD to have a SCSI controller card to handle the configuration. This is no longer true. Today we have IDE raids.
There are two ways to configure a RAID....
The Evil IDE RAID...
You can take the series of drives and "merge" their capacity to form one large volume. This makes all drives on the RAID appear as one large drive to the operating system. If you have two 80GB drives, using this method causes windows to treat that pair of disks as one 160GB drive. You can only RAID 2 drives in an IDE RAID. (On a SCSI RAID, you can have 5 drives in this manner.)
Cool you say? It sure as Sam Hill is.
Until one of the drives dies on your IDE RAID and you lose all your data. If one of the two physical drives completely dies on you, you have pretty much lost the data on both drives. Its great to have all that capacity as one drive, it surely is. If you choose this configuration, you most definitely want your system backed up regularly, as with our Worry Free PC suscription for example.
The Good IDE RAID
Another way you can configure your IDE RAID is to make what's known as a redundant RAID. This is when you have a pair of drives that mirror each other. The system looks at the pair as one drive. Two 80GB drives configured in this manner would appear to the system as ONE 80GB drive. So what good is that, you ask?
This increases your data read/write access. Hard drives have a number of arms inside that read the data. Think of them like people fetching and retrieving your pieces of data like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, until they bring you all the pieces and assemble the complete picture. On really large files, this can take awhile.
Imagine how much faster that puzzle can be completed with twice as many people fetching the pieces and putting them together... that is a great advantage to a redundant RAID.
When you make your configuration choice... striped vs. redundant, you have to ask yourself one thing....
How good are your backups?
PCB
Posted by Bernie at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2005
Where are all the Moon Maidens?
For the fun of it I did a google search for "wireless network security" this is the result of the search.
You might notice that the #1 link is from a site called practically networked which is an excellent reference site, however when you read the article you will note that quite a few of the pieces of advice are contrary to things we've said before.
There was a time when this article would have been good advice but it's old,that hasn't stopped it from being #1 on the google list. If you hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button and followed the advice your system would be hackable in minutes.
If you are old enough you might remember the old Beverly Hillbillies episode where Jethro decides to go to the moon because it's full of moon maidens. When Elly asks how he know this he says:
They wouldn't print it in a comic book if it wasn't true
Don't be Jethro on the net.
Posted by Peter at 04:51 PM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2005
Yeah I link there
I was at a party yesterday in Spencer and a friend of mine (Hi Mike) commented that I was constantly linking to Instapundit.
Well Instapundit tends to link to a lot of useful spots and although it is not the focus of the blog, tends to mention technology in general and digital cameras in particular.
My basic rule is I don't care what I link to if I think the story is relevent to either technology or blogging. I can't speak for the other people who post here, but that's me. Glenn's blog is the first place I go to during the day and has been for over 4 years so naturally I find links there first and will continue to do so.
Of course as a business we wouldn't complain if we got an instalance either.
BTW Mike has a cool online radio station, WDOA. It's worth a listen.
Posted by Peter at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)
You snooze you lose
Even if you make a popular product, if you don't do the paperwork you pay:
Although Apple introduced the iPod in November 2001, it did not file a provisional patent application until July 2002, and a full application was filed only in October that year.In the meantime, Microsoft submitted an application in May 2002 to patent some key elements of music players, including song menu software.
To be honest I can't get excited about two large companies arguing over the pie. I think the IPOD is a good device but so are other MP3 players that cost less.
Posted by Peter at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2005
Wi Fi summer camp
You know wi-fi is everywhere.
However don't you go to the lake to get away from technology? No wonder our kids are so plump.
Per Ann Althouse subbing at Instapundit.
Posted by Peter at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2005
The right to take risks or no
It doesn't happen a lot, but every now and again we will give a customer some advice on protecting their system, from backups, to preview panes to stuff like limewire and for whatever reason the customer declines to take that advice.
Sometimes this can be a little annoying since we've seen the results of such things time and time again, but I was re-reading an old history book of mine and found the following quote that changed my mind:
Gentlemen, I refuse to sign any pledge. I never have been drunk, and , by the blessing of God, I never will get drunk, but I have a constitutional privilege to get drunk, and that privilege I will not sign away.Chancellor Kent from his Memoirs when a temperance committee asked him to sign the pledge.
There is nothing more basic than the right to take a risk. If the customer decides to take a risk with his own machine, well it's his machine and his risk to take.
And if the machine tanks we'll be here.
Posted by Peter at 10:18 PM | Comments (2)
Spoiled Rotten
As you might have noticed, we've added a few new people plus a couple who haven't posted yet.
As is normal when new people come in things get rearranged. While that's going on today I'm working in a different spot with my laptop but without a second machine.
This is the first time since my last job that I've only worked with one computer in front of me at a time. Usually I do all my paperwork on one machine while I do all my communication on the other.
It just goes to show you I'm getting spoiled rotten. At this time last year I never even owned a laptop, didn't have high speed internet. If you want to go back years to my first computer job, it was all CDC, IBM and Vax mainframes and the company still had one punched card reader.
Today we connect to the internet using hotspots, some cities are even preparing municipal ones. We take photos without film, we print scan and fax from our homes, burn our own music disks, send mail full of photos everywhere and even send messages or play games with people all over the world in real time. If our headlines are over an hour old it is old news and if we don't know something we google it.
When I was 30 all or most of these things were reserved for either the very rich or just not possible, but now a call will come in from college kid working at Macs asking why their system won't sync with their IPOD.
The development of the home computer and the internet is in my opinion the biggest industrial and or cultural event since the invention of the steam engine. We have a life that our ancestors could only dream of, and those who follow us will have it even better.
We are so lucky that we don't even know it and here I am whining because I have only one PC to work from today? Am I spoiled or what!
Posted by Peter at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2005
One down millions to go
Microsoft's victory over a large spammer is good news for us all.
However when it comes down to it like drugs and older professions as long as there is a profit in it, it shall continue.
Posted by Peter at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
Creating MP3's
MP3's are everywhere these days. If you have an iPod or subscribe to a downloading service, you know exactly what they are. Basically it's a compressed file format for sound and takes up considerably less disk space than the old WAV file format or a standard CD track.
But how are they made?
How do you know what options to choose for the finished file? What the heck does kbps mean?
There are many applications that you can use to create an MP3. If you have an iPod, you can use your iTunes to create them from your music CD's. Maybe you use Nero to make CD's, which has an add-on module to create MP3's. Personally, I use AudioCatalyst by Xing to make mine. There is a free version of this software that will allow you to create an MP3 with bit rate as high as 220 kbps. Registered, it will allow you to go all the way up to 320 kbps.
So the kbps... what IS that? The kbps (or bit rate) of an MP3 file basically describes the amount of compression. The bigger the kbps, the larger the file and the better frequency you can have. The upside of the bigger kbps is quality.
On the other hand, you might find yourself with a limited amount of drive space, or in a situation where you really want to cram as much music in as possible. Using a lower kbps will make a smaller file. However, the smaller the file gets, the lower the frequency rate and sound quality will be. For my purposes with MP3's, anything under 192 kbps is simply not useable. When you get down underneath that, your songs start to sound like they're coming through a tin can and you lose alot of the bass.
The kbps is important to consider when making an MP3 if you intend to later use it as part of a standard CD compilation. Most CD burning software will allow you to create a standard music CD using MP3's. The kbps of your MP3's will determine how good these tracks will sound, so the bigger the better in these instances.
Once the MP3 is created, the kbps is set. You can't "turn it up" after the file has been created. If you make a standard CD from files set at 128 kbps, it will sound like hold music over a telephone and you really can't do anything about it. It's Victrola quality now.
There are uses for lower kbps MP3 files. For example, you may have a phone system that will allow you to play music in the background, or you may be using them as part of a computer application and the quality does not need to be fantastic. However, most people use MP3 files as a way to more easily store music. I would not personally recommend anything smaller than 220 for that purpose.
And remember... even a file made at the biggest kbps will not have the same quality as the original CD track did. A 3 and a half minute standard CD track may be approximately 25MB, while the 320 kbps file is around 9MB. The quality will be close enough that most people cannot tell the difference. But the difference does exist.
Just in case you didn't know... :)
Posted by Bernie at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
August 09, 2005
Hoist on their own petard
Google is a very good search engine, perhaps too good:
Google's director of public relations, called CNET editors to complain once it published the facts."They were unhappy about the fact we used Schmidt's private information in our story," Jai Singh, editor in chief of CNETNews.com, told the Times. "Our view is what we published was all public information, and we actually used their own product to find it."
Singh said Krane called back to say Google would not speak to any reporter from CNET for an entire year.
Move coverage here.
Perhaps they can get advice on blocking information from Microsoft and Cisco.
Posted by Peter at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)
August 08, 2005
Passwords and the people who hate them
Megan McArdle substitute blogging on Instapundit goes on about passwords and the pain in the neck they have become. She has some very blunt ideas:
If your tech employees can't be trusted to devise secure passwords without the computer forcing them on everyone else in the company, well, then, you should fire your network staff and hire someone competent.
She does link to an opposing view.
I guess she doesn't know that passwords are dead.
Posted by Peter at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)
Que pasa?
Hello I am Juan and will be helping our customer to have a great computer Xp and also having a lot of fun. Like Bernie I`m also a DJ now the party will be bigger and louder.
The things you see me bloging at will be mostly network or "Redes" for the Spanish community.
Gracias y hasta luego.
Posted by juan at 01:37 PM | Comments (0)
Nothing to see here
A few months ago we did a series called Look what we have here.
This old Tech Central Station article says suggests we shouldn't bother.
At least it will prepare our kids for Jobs in Norway.
Posted by Peter at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)
August 07, 2005
Those days are going going gone!
You might be shocked to hear this but I actually did without anti-virus software for almost 6 years on my systems.
For a long time my A machine was a windows ME system with a dial up connection. I did all my intense surfing at work. I kept my password away from my sons and they only could surf when I hooked them up. If I saw an e-mail I didn't know, it was toast.
With Hi speed cable those days are gone for me but I've noticed that they seem to be gone for dial up people too.
If I still had my dial up, there is NO way I would do without anti-virus, too many different things attacking, if you are doing without it, you are taking a foolish risk. The days of doing without it are gone.
Posted by Peter at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)
August 05, 2005
And then there was one....
Well even with the different hairlines some confusion takes place so Peter B will now be known as Bernie (per his nickname)
Of course that won't grow any hair for me but oh well.
Posted by Peter at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)
August 04, 2005
Clamp down, what clampdown?
I wonder if this will help give Microsoft and Cisco 2nd thoughts?
Nah.
Posted by Peter at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)
iPod and DJ's: Why They Don't Mix
iPods. What nice little personal devices they are. You can carry around 20 gigs of music in your pocket and not deal with commercials or music you really don't want to hear. They're small, they're neat, they're replacing the old walkman. But they are not CD players. They are certainly not a tool for any self respecting DJ.
But WHY you ask?
If you have been to a any function, night club or bar with a professional DJ lately, you may have noticed that while you were on the dance floor the song would change without you realizing it right away. Or maybe you did realize it, but the beat blended right in from one song to the next. Or maybe the DJ took a piece of one song and blended it right into the one that was already playing. This is known as beat mixing.
Beat mixing is where you have a dual CD player with a cross fader (a switch that turns one player down while simultaneously turning the other up) and pitch control on the CD's. Pitch control allows you to change slightly the beat of any song. Pitch control is what makes beat mixing possible.
If you have two different songs that almost match each other beat for beat, you can use pitch control to make them sync up. Usually, the DJ will do this while one of the two songs is playing and uses headphones to match up the song that is coming next. When the DJ decides to go into the next song, or simply drop a few measures on top of the song that is currently playing, he/she will use the cross fader to blend the second song in. If they are skilled enough, you won't even notice that this is being done live and is not prerecorded mixing.
You cannot do this with an iPod. It lacks the vital pitch control.
So the lesson is, if you want a professional DJ, look for one that has the dual CD players and mixing boards. If you want to be a real DJ, spend the money on the right gear and don't try to go the cheap route.
Do not be afraid to ask your prospective DJ what kind of equipment they use. If they use iPods, you would be better off setting up your home stereo and selecting the repeat button from the CD rack. Unfortunately, there are amateurs out there who do use them. These alledged DJ's are no more practical than your home stereo at an event, wedding or any other party. A good DJ may not be inexpensive, but remember that you get what you pay for. "DJ" Pedro might guarantee to DJ your wedding for $100, but a professsional would add a zero to that figure. And its worth it.
I'm not knocking the iPod. I think its a great invention. It just doesn't belong anywhere near my mixing station is all; not even as emergency backup gear should my CD players burst into flame. If Apple decides to add pitch control to the iPod, that would change everything. :)
Posted by at 12:33 PM | Comments (1)
There's TWO now?!
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, if you thought one Peter was enough, guess again.
My name is Peter B, a.k.a. Bernie, and I am new here. If you have trouble telling us apart, here is a simple tip. I'm the one with the hair on the top of my head, while the other Peter is the one with all the hair on the bottom of his.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and also shamelessly plug my brother's DJ company.
I also DJ, and will make posts about the growing use of computer technology in the music industry, as well as some general do's and don'ts for the MP3 enthusiast and aspiring DJ's.
Thanks, and I'll be seeing you around :)
Posted by at 12:03 PM | Comments (1)
The 1000 dollar game console
Yes its true, for many of us our PC is simply an expensive game console that we happen to do other things with.
If you are one of those then The Carnival of the Gamers is for you.
Via Instapundit
For myself the best computer gave I've played lately is Civilization III. But there is something to be said for the old favorites listed here.
I still play 1830 regularly (both on the PC and off). Colonization was always a favorite of mine and my kids, because of it my son knew who Thomas Paine was in 2nd grade and wowed his teacher. Machiavelli the Prince is another keeper that was released with a windows version under the name Merchant Prince II.
Posted by Peter at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2005
And Peter as the clumsey husband...
Yes I know i said I was going to post pictures of the trip, and I will....just as soon as I remember where I put the connecting cable for the camera.
Posted by Peter at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)
August 02, 2005
Oh come on now.
Is this really worth getting huffy about?
Scroll to 10:39 AM on the 2nd link to see what I mean.
Posted by Peter at 07:37 PM | Comments (0)
August 01, 2005
Digital & Film
One of the most unpleasant things I have to do at this job is to inform owners of digital camera that there photo's are toast. It is not an uncommon thing to get a call from a person just back from some kind of vacation who can't read pictures from his or her digital camera or memory card.
It was my experience that most of the time the cause is lost, however as the digital camera has become more common so has recovery software specifically for digital camera and data recovery in general. Here are a few...
Both Photo rescue & Digital Photo Recovery allow you to download the demo to see if you can actually recover your photos before you buy.
Stellar Phoenix Digital Media Recovery has a toll free number displayed up front for the customer while Art Plus is freeware that you can give a shot to.
Dr. Byte has a long list of data recovery companies for you to check out, As the software has become more common the prices have dropped, but in the end remember this is digital and magnetic media that is subject to all of the things that can mess it up from x-rays to electrical surges. It might not be a bad idea to keep a cheap throw away film camera with you on special trips to take a key short or two. This will make sure that your memories are still represented in case any of the solutions above fail.
Posted by Peter at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)