If you are still reading this blog

I just wanted to let you know that I am not really updating this blog anymore. I started my new blog over at Port 16, and that is where I am doing all of my posting.

Why don't you come over and visit?

Gone away

I'm going on vacation, read about it here.

Additions to Port 16

I'm still working on getting the new blog, Port 16, squared away.

It is still looking pretty sparse, but today I posted an answer to a popular question, Why port 16? Also, for any new visitors, or any that never knew, I answered the other question, Who the hell is Mike Scott anyway?

Things are moving along, and I hope you'll come and join me at my new Blog.

The EarthCore Audiobook / Podcast was awesome!

Note: I moved most of this post over to my new blog, and you can find the migrated post here. What is listed below is part of a conversation with Scott that I didn't include when I migrated the post. I didn't want the comments hanging out there, and you wondering why all that was said. Anyway, come on over to my new blog.

Hey Scott, what a great story! Like I said, I can't wait for the Sequel. Thanks!

I do have one question though, everyone who has a military background served in the Marine Corps. Is there some personal tie-in there? I'm a Jarhead, so I was curious.

I caught that you kept referring to them as soldiers, even though it should have been Marines. I figured it was because they were all in civilian employment now. Next time though, since they have Marine backgrounds, you can also refer to them as Leathernecks, Jarheads or Devil Dogs. They can run around shouting Ooh-Rah!, and referring to things by their naval terms, like bulkhead, deck and scuttlebut.

Just a suggestion.

The Only Constant is Change

I was re-organizing the blog a little bit on Friday, so you may have noticed that I moved some things around. For the curious, here is what was accomplished.

Moved an Ad - First off, the large image add that was in the top right corner has been moved down under my "Some other Blogs" links and "Don't let Internet Radio be Crushed" banner. I put some text ads in their place, just for fun. (Art, you are going to have to scroll down now to see if the Helium ads have any new girls in it.)

The reason for this move was that although interesting, I wasn't getting any clicks on it. Even though it isn't that big of a deal, I figured I might as well try something new.

Added a Recent Posts Section - I get a good number of visits that end up deep in the archives. After that, they leave. I'm hoping that the "Recent Posts" section will provide some link bait.

Moved the Blog Archive - Since the "Recent Posts are in such a visible location, I moved the Blog Archive section because it seemed a little redundant. Between you and me (don't tell the Widgets), I think that the Technorati Widget is worthless, and I probably should get rid of it. I consider anything there or below to be in the "No one is ever going to see this stuff" zone of the sidebar.

Added some more Ads - Seems kind of pointless, but I keep getting this darn optimization report from AdSense stating that I should "Add more than one add unit on each page". I'm sick of seeing that, so I made the change and I hope they will shut up.

Maybe the next message will be "Post something that people will want to read" or maybe, "Find yourself a point, then get to it".

Asked my readers their opinion - Wait, I haven't done that yet.

What do you think? Feel free to let me know, you can email me (address is on my profile page), post a comment here, or ridicule my blog on your blog, and I'll see the link back. Heck, I may even give you a link back.

While you are at it, why not start a "5 things that Suck about The Bit Bucket" blog meme, tag your friends, and we could all have a good laugh. Some a little more maniacal than others.

The Next Internet Millionaire

If you haven't had your fill of reality TV you should check out "The Next Internet Millionaire".

This is a web reality show, and currently, according to their blog, they are picking the 12 contestants. So far 3 have been selected.

New contestants are announced every Sunday and Wednesday, the list of 12 contestants can be seen here. The other contestants will be selected from this list of the top 50 contestants.

In my brief viewing of the site, I noticed that the competition is going to be in Colorado. I didn't see a mention of what city, but I'm sure it won't be Colorado Springs.

It looks like the contestants will be competing for prizes and money, while being taught by Internet millionaire "teachers", and the winner will be entering into a joint venture with Joel Comm.

According to the little bio on the about page, Joel has launched "dozens of online ventures", as well as writing "The adsense code", which was a New York Times Best seller.

Looks interesting, I may have to watch it.

June 2007's Most Popular Posts

Let me just say, I was shocked and amazed to see two entirely new posts make it into the top 5 last month. So, let us welcome them into the top 5. They are:

1. "Move over Nigerian email scams, make way for something meatier" - Which made it into third place. Posted on June 16th.

2. "Windows Live Writer Beta 2" - Which made it into fourth place. Pretty impressive, considering it was posted on June 24th.

It was nice to see some new posts make it here, and considering that they were both posted after the halfway mark in June, I was pretty excited.

Even though I numbered the two posts above, here is the official list, in order of popularity.

1. How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database in Windows XP - Our old friend, and particularly useful post.

2. Strange SharePoint Team Services 2 Restore Issue - What more can I say?

3. Move over Nigerian email scams, make way for something meatier - Do you grow weary of Nigerian email scams, well this scam was new to me, and it was from Kuwait.

4. Windows Live Writer Beta 2 - Not only is it new, but it works! I actually use it for all of my posting now.

5. Microsoft Access error: Compile error . in query expression - Couldn't be a most popular without this post on there.

The Bit Bucket is the Blog of the Day!

Well yesterday we were.

Jennifer made The Bit Bucket her blog of the day over at "The Life of a School Bus Driver".

Thanks a bunch Jennifer!

Summary of iPhone media coverage

Art posted a good summary of the iPhone coverage over on incoherentmumbling.

I haven't read PVP for quite awhile, but this strip had the line "Jesus has come back and he's a phone now" in it. I know that is how a lot of people were acting when the iPhone was just released.

It is interesting to see some of the "Oh my God! This phone completes me" coverage, and compare it to some of the more realistic iPhone coverage.

Get High Quality Stock Photos for free from FreerangeStock.com

Sorry I moved this post to my new blog. You can find it here.

Feedburner Pro is now Free

Way back in May, Google bought Feedburner. Even though I run into lots of people who look at me like I'm from another planet when I start talking about RSS feeds, I'm sure everyone reading this knows what a RSS feed is.

If you are one of those strange people who think that big, towering piles of money would be a really neat thing to have, reportedly Google paid $100 Million for Feedburner.

According to Tech Crunch, although you still have to "upgrade" to the "Pro", nothing is billed. If you already have a Feedburner Pro account, then nothing will be billed effective with the June billing cycle.

I have my feed through feedburner, but to be honest, I never do anything on their site. I will have to say, it works, and I haven't had to do much of anything with it since I set it up.

For more on the Google front, Google is continuing its buying spree, with the recently announced purchase of GrandCentral Communications. Of course, you already know that Google bought DoubleClick, and they really have been making some moves to build what looks like a health care network or portal (here, and here). Heck, if you are looking for a blog idea, you could probably have one that just reports Google stuff. Oh wait, there already are a bunch of those like Inside Google, The unofficial Google Weblog, Google Weblog, and too many others to list.

Fireworks

It just isn't the Fourth of July without some good old fashioned fireworks. We stayed at home this year, and fired off some of our own. It was really great because the kids were old enough to really know what was going on.

I live outside of the city limits, so fireworks are legal for me, so long as they are on the approved list. If fireworks aren't legal in your area, here are some pictures, courtesy of flickr, for your enjoyment. I would suggest that after you look at them, say "BOOM" really loud, and it will be as if you were there. As soon as I upload them, I'll try and post some of my, much less impressive, pictures.

Who not to choose if you want to pick somebody's pocket

Hint: a former Marine and Golden Gloves champion is probably not a good target. Even if he is 72 years old. The full story is on MSN here, but I found this YouTube video that is the actual surveillance. From a click on Detroit story:

"There was blood everywhere," said another manager on duty, Abby Ostrom, 25.
Barnes was a regional runner-up in Golden Gloves competition in the novice and open divisions before enlisting in the Marines in 1956.

Happy 4th of July

Happy Fourth of July!

I love the Fourth of July, we get a day off work, cookouts, fireworks, and the celebration of our Freedom. I know that most Americans might forget what today is really about, but I don't.

Way back in 1776, our founding fathers unanimously declared that we aren't going to put up with Britain's crap anymore, we can do this better, and we can take care of ourselves.

I know that our country today isn't perfect, and lord knows we have made some mistakes, but it is our country, and if you don't like it, then change it.

That's right, I didn't say leave, I said change it. Hello, it's called democracy, if you want a change, get out there and try to make it happen. If you don't like the system, get off your ass, get out there, and make a difference. Your changes may not happen, but you can try.

A friend of ours grew up in East Germany, before the wall came down, and one of the big differences she noticed about America was that over there, and in other countries, although your basic necessities were taken care of, you couldn't dream. You were stuck with your lot in life, and what you could do or become was very limited.

Here in the US, we have the ability to try and make a better life for ourselves, and for our children. It isn't guaranteed, after all, it is the "pursuit of happiness", not "the achievement of happiness", or just plain old "happiness".

Enjoy today, have fun, shoot off some fireworks (where permissible by law), take some time to think about that today, what we are celebrating, and why it is so important.

Also, remember the people who decided they wanted to make sure that we can celebrate this day every year, and they were willing to risk their life to make sure that happens.

To all of our Marines, Soldiers, Airmen and Sailors who aren't  home today to celebrate this day on American Soil, thank you, stay safe, and we hope you come back soon.

Get some Free Music, but hurry.

Over at TechCrunch, they have a promotional offer to celebrate Amie Street's birthday. The first 5,000 unique signups get $2.50 in free credit, and 5 free song recommendations. Details here.

If you aren't familiar with Amie Street, the songs are sold in DRM free MP3 format. The songs also start out free, and go up in price as they become more popular, all the way up to the extremely expensive price of $.99. Apple made a big deal when they started selling DRM free music for $1.30 a song, and Amie Street has been doing if for quite awhile now.

I signed up, and received my credit. Woo-Hoo!

Burn Notice

I just watched the premiere of Burn Notice on USA last night, and I'll have to say, I like it. Now, the show isn't as action packed as 24, not that I watch it, but it was quite entertaining. As a disclaimer, I am a fan of Jeffrey Donovan, who plays Michael Westen, the main character, ever since he starred in the ill fated "Touching Evil" series.

Although I watched the premiere last night, it actually premiered on Thursday June 28th, so you if you are interested in it, then you may want to check your TV listings to see when they are playing the episode.

To summarize the storyline, Michael Westen is a spy who works for some government agency, possibly the CIA, but through a contractor, or some other arrangement like that. One day, his employer decides that they no longer need his services, and they issue a "burn notice". Kind of like a pink slip, except not only does he no longer get paid, but they also suspend all of his bank accounts, drop him off in Miami (his hometown), place him under surveillance, and put his name on all of the FBI's watch lists. He is told, although not directly, that if he leaves Miami, there will be state-wide manhunts for him.

Not to spoil too much, but there were just some really neat things it in, like the timing of his burn notice (first 10 minutes of the show). He is making a deal with a wannabe warlord, where his agency pays the warlord $750,000 to provide security and "protection" for a refinery. The warlord agrees, and Michael gets on the phone to arrange the transfer, while the warlord gets on his computer to verify that the funds get transferred.

In the middle of the conversation, halfway through the account number, the person on the other end says something to the effect of:

I'm sorry, but there has been a burn notice issued for you.

After which, the line goes dead. Needless to say the warlord isn't particularly happy.

After escaping the warlord, and being dumped off in Miami, Michael is basically forced to take some private investigator work, just to earn money. In the process he gets to use some of his spy expertise, as well as take up the fight for the little guy. Almost an A-Team type of plot.

Although there is fighting and shooting, there isn't a whole lot of it, at least not for a spy show, but there is some pretty funny parts, as well as just some neat ways of doing things, like the whole bullet proof door work around.

I'm glad to see Jeffrey Donovan in another series, and hopefully this one will last. Like many of USA's other original series, this one is going to air in the summer, which should make sure that there is at least some audience willing to watch it. I really get tired of some really good shows just dropping off the face of the earth because they weren't popular enough to go up against American Idol.

Burn Notice Official Web Site

More Vista Ultimate Extras on the way

This was really a "no update" update, The Ultimate Extras team posted an announcement that they are in fact still working on the extras that they talked about in January, specifically Dreamscene (animated wallpapers) and 20 language packs for the multi language user interface. Basically, they will be ready when they are ready.

Of course they should wait until the extras are stable and work properly, and I don't want you to think that I am giving them any grief. If the extras are delayed because they aren't stable, then I think that is a good decision.

Although I like eye candy, I usually turn it off after a little while. You see, I use my machine to do work, and I don't particularly care about windows animations, etc. So Dreamscene isn't something that I'm holding my breath for. I do have some hope though , because the article says:

We also intend to deliver additional Extras in the future. In addition to Windows DreamScene and the remaining Language Packs, we plan to ship a collection of additional Windows Ultimate Extras over the next couple years that we are confident will delight our passionate Windows Vista Ultimate customers.

So maybe they will include something cool, like a backup utility that lets you specify what you want backed up. Kind of like every version of Windows since NT has had. (I know that you can copy the backup utility from XP over to Vista, look in the more reading section).

More Reading:

Windows Ultimate team provides an update on Extras - Nick White on the Windows Vista Team Blog.

Installing Windows XP Ntbackup on Windows Vista - Petri IT Knowledgebase

Restoring NTBACKUP files to Windows Vista - SearchWinComputing.com

Vista Ultimate's promised add-ons just broken promises? - NeoWin.net

Free Audio Books

This post was migrated to my new blog, Port 16. You can find it here.

Now with Folders - Google Docs and SpreadSheets

I was very surprised when I accidentally clicked on the Docs and Spreadsheets link in Gmail, and realized that Google has added the ability to organize your items into folders.

Well, kind of.

They basically have taken the tags that you assign to items, and placed a little folder icon next to them. Items can exist in multiple folders, just like they have multiple tags.

This will fix one complaint that I hear over and over from people about GMail, they can't use folders to organize their email. I never had the problem, I view the tags just like folders. If you click on a tag, you get a view which only holds the items with that particular tag.

The advantage, of course, is that items can have more than one tag, where in a true folder system, the item can only exist in one folder.

Even though Google introduced folders, they didn't introduce sub-folders. They just don't work.

The layout for the new interface looks just like the folder layout that Outlook uses, and Yahoo Mail, and Hotmail, and Windows Explorer, and File Manager (remember that one?) and well, you get the picture. It is a big improvement over the last interface though, and in the new interface, you can drag and drop items into the folders. Pretty nice.

The interface was announced tuesday on the Google Blog, and contrary to a previous post of mine, Google Docs might start to be some type of competition for Microsoft Office, especially if they enable Google Gears for it.

More Reading:

"Google Docs and Spreadsheets updates" - Jeff Stalnaker

"Google Docs Gets Organized (and a new look)" - OgasaWalrus.com

"New Google Docs Launched" - Googlified

"Google Docs - Some Issues" - Satish's Blog

May 2007's Top Posts

1. How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database in Windows XP
2. Microsoft Access error: Compile error . in query expression
3. Strange SharePoint Team Services 2 Restore Issue - I actually change the title of this one because I wasn't specifying the Version of SharePoint, or that I was talking about SharePoint Team Services vs. SharePoint Portal Server.
4. Winamp Site Hacked?
5. The Outlook Dumpster - Adventures in Deleted Item Recovery

Some of these posts should be looking pretty familiar to you by now. Jeez, what is the problem with some nice fresh posts? I mean come on, these posts are mostly old. Here, let me suggest some posts for you to read:

For the Techies:

Folder Navigation in Vista - Happiness is a Hyperlinked Address Bar

5 Reasons to leave your Wireless Devices turned off at the RSA conference

For a little laughter:

Messing with the Idiots

Create your own warning labels

Mac Vs. PC Spoof

For the Civic Minded:

Help Save Internet Radio

For the nosey:

What have I been up to?

Mike has finally bought an IPod!?!?

Now, these are all perfectly good posts, that were created in May 2007 or earlier. Please read them, I don't think I can stand to hear the muffled sobbing of another poor post who feels neglected.

Internet Radio Observes a Day of Silence

Attempting to draw more attention to the "Internet Radio Equality Act", many Internet radio stations are observing a day of silence today. Pandora is one of the more popular services, one which I use and love, and it too is silent today.

Pandora has posted a open letter to Internet radio users, written by Tim Westergren, here is a brief excerpt from that letter.

Ignoring all rationality and responding only to the lobbying of the RIAA, an arbitration committee in Washington DC has drastically increased the licensing fees Internet radio sites must pay to stream songs. Pandora's fees will triple, and are retroactive for eighteen months! Left unchanged by Congress, every day will be like today as internet radio sites start shutting down and the music dies.

A bill called the "Internet Radio Equality Act" has already been introduced in both the Senate (S. 1353) and House of Representatives (H.R. 2060) to fix the problem and save Internet radio--and Pandora--from obliteration.

Please contact your local representatives, and ask them to support the "Internet Radio Equality Act", you can find contact info for them here, and you can also visit www.savenetradio.org to see what else you can do.

More reading:

Help save Internet Radio - My Blog

SaveInternetRadio.Org

"Internet Radio "Day of Silence" hushes thousands of stations" - ArsTechnica

"Radio Free Internet: Broadcasters Protest Rate Hikes With Silence" - Wired

Windows Live Writer Beta 2

I'm not a big fan of composing blogger posts in the HTML editor. The editor works fine , but I just don't particularly care for it.

Previously, Blogger had a plug-in for Word that worked pretty well, although the HTML looked horrible. When the current version of Blogger went into Beta the plug-in stopped working, and there were no plans to update it.

I heard that Microsoft was going to include Blog support in the new word, which I was really happy about, but at the time, it didn't work either. I can't blame MS on that one, because Docs and Spreadsheets stopped working too. There was a workaround that worked for about 3 days. I wrote about it in "When Getting New Features Means that Old Features don't work anymore".

Enter Windows Live Writer Beta, a pretty handy blog post editor. To be perfectly honest, I don't remember why I stopped using it, as I remember the HTML that it creates is pretty clean. My dirty little secret is that I have been using OneNote 2007's "Blog This" feature. Which although handy, doesn't play perfectly well with Blogger.

A couple of features that have been added to the new version is the ability to save drafts to your blog, as well as blogger tag support. There are also a number of plug-ins available.

When I published this post, the HTML was really clean, and the formatting was correct. With OneNote 2007 or Word 2007 there would always be strange line spacing, as well as extra lines breaks in the post.

Links and References:

- Writer Zone (Windows Liver Writer Blog) - Microsoft

- Windows Live Writer (Official Site) - Microsoft

- whateverblog - Joe Cheng, part of the Microsoft Live Writer Team.

- Live Writer Plug-ins - Microsoft

The Onion's Take on iPhone Features

With only 7 days to go, you have to take a look at the features listed on The Onion's Article: "Apple's New iPhone" (Via Internet Nexus).

My favorite feature is:

Exclusive link to Google Street View so you can watch yourself using your iPhone at all times

and

Comes with an iPhone hat, so people know you own an iPhone during the brief periods you're not using it

It seems like yesterday and today my inbox has been flooded with anti-iPhone newsletters. There are a lot of people worried about the iPhone in their network. Several of the articles point out that the devices only support iMap, and that Apple should license software from either Blackberry or Microsoft so that the device can sync more securly.

I really don't see how this is any different from the way things are now, except possibly for the fact that the iPhone is going to be more popular than most other iMap enabled phones.

Analysts: iPhone Has Neither Security nor Relevance - eWeek

Enterprise Hurdles Await iPhone - eWeek

The iPhone, our new security nightmare - 360° Security

Is The iPhone Insecure? - Forbes

Microsoft Surface

I had heard about Surface, but hadn't went looking for anything about it, until I saw a YouTube parody on HellYeahBitch. I had to go and find some of the real videos. The Microsoft Surface Website has the official videos, although I'm not sure what is going on with the text they use.

Not to be a Microsoft fan boy, but surface sure looks cool. From what I have read, the price tag is all sorts of expensive, like $10,000 a unit. That is way out of my $19.99 budget. Maybe someone I know will get one, and I can stay at their place for awhile. Right now Microsoft is targeting places like hotels and casinos, hoping that in 3 to 5 years the prices will have come down enough for consumers.

According to this CNet News article, Microsoft is developing the hardware and the software for the device.

I'm kind of curious to see what technologies are being using for synchronization and data transfer, not to mention how long before those technologies are supported by a lot of manufacturers. Looks cool though. Below is one of the Microsoft Videos, with a parody of it below.

Microsoft's Teaser:


Finally, that parody:

Sources and Links:
- Microsoft Surface Website - Microsoft
- "Microsoft hopes 'Milan' table PC has magic touch" - CNet News.com
- "Microsoft Surface Confirmed" - GizModo
- "Its not an iPhone...its a big ass table" - HellYeahBitch
- "Surface computing - Microsoft Surface" - My-Knowledge-Share
- "Microsoft Surface - The Magic, The Power, The Possibilities" - Andrea Vascellari Weblog

Some Interesting Links

In my recent web travels I have ran across some sites that I wanted to share. Here they are, enjoy.

1. StreetViewr - Since Google started its "Street View" feature on Google Maps, this blog / website has been pulling photos of note out of the stream. Here are a couple of examples:

   Patrick Norton - Formerly of the Screensavers, frequent TWIT Panelist, now on DL.TV
   

   A someone working on a house, with a really big ladder
   

   My Favorite, the Google Van gets pulled over. Make sure you follow the post's directions to see it.
   

2. The Make ezine - Come on, haven't you always wanted to make a Margarita Maker, Ping Pong ball gun, or maybe just some bacon soap. The site has the Digital version of the Magazine, a blog, podcasts and Projects directory. Pretty cool.
   
   
3. Exchange Exchange - A Post by John Gruber about how the iPhone is going to make the Corporate world throw off the shackles of an oppressive Microsoft Exchange environment. Oh, by the way, I guess Leopard Server (Apple makes servers?!?!) is going to have a Calendaring Server called iCal. I think that is iTerrific.
   
   
4. Jumping Monkeys! - No, that wasn't a curse substitute, and as a matter of fact, I added the exclamation point. A very long time ago, I mentioned that I ran across Megan Morrone's blog, titled Jumping Monkeys, and if you have read many of my posts, I am a big fan of the TWIT Podcasts. Well, Megan and Leo now have the Jumping Monkey's podcast, focusing on parenting. The have something like 3 episodes out now, and so far it is pretty good.
   

   
   

Script to backup SharePoint Team Services 2

Over at my very popular "Strange SharePoint Restore Issue" post, Rafael was having a problem with restoring a SharePoint backup. Unfortunately it isn't anything I have ran into, all of my experience has been with SharePoint Team Services 2. But Rafael asked me to post my SharePoint backup script anyway.

So here it is, but first, a little advice:

If you use this script to backup your SharePoint database:

• As with any backup plan or device, Test out the restore procedure.
  
• Backups are Version Dependent. There are various subversions. Here is a Penny Coventry (MVP) has a nice table that lays out the versions.
  
• Make sure that the name remains the same. If you rename the backup file before you try to restore it, you will get a strange error.
  
• Use this script at your own peril. I don't guarantee anything. This works for me, and I have tested it in my environment. You should do the same before you rely on it.
  
• The script makes files named "YYYY-M-D-SharepointBackup.dat". You should only run it once a day, or it will error out the next runs.
  
• I run this script on the sharpoint server. You may have to modify the strURL variable.
  
• The path to STSADM varies by locale.
  

  '** Begin Copy here
  '******************* SPSBK.VBS ****************************************
  '** Save this file with a .vbs extension
  '**
  '** Share Point Services Backup
  '** This script is meant to be run periodically to create a backup of
  '** a sharepoint site to a local folder.
  '**
  '** This script runs stsadm with the parameters needed
  '** to create a full backup named after the date.
  '**********************************************************************
  
  
  'Create the Variables
  dim strCmdPath ' Used to store the path where stsadm is located
  dim strBKPath ' Used to store the path where backup files will be stored
  dim strFileDate ' Used to store the date which is appended to the file name.
  dim strCmd ' Used to hold the entire command sent to the shell.
  dim strURL ' Used to store the URL for the Sharepoint Backup
  
  
  '************************************************************************
  ' Here is where the location is set. Change these depending on Machine **
  '************************************************************************
  ' This is the path where stsadm is
  strCmdPath = "c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\" & _
  

  "web server extensions\60\bin\"
  
  ' This is the path where backup files will be stored
  strBKPath = "d:\SharepointBackups\"
  
  strURL = "http://localhost/sites"
  
  '************************************************************************
  ' Assemble the date string for the filename
  strFileDate = year(now) & "-" & month(now) & "-" & day(now)
  
  ' Build the command line.
  strCmd = chr(34)& strCmdPath & "stsadm.exe " & chr(34) & "-o backup -url " & _
  strURL & " -filename " & strBKPath & strFileDate & "-SharepointBackup.dat"
  
  ' Execute the command.
  Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
  objShell.Run(strCmd)
  '*** End Copy Here
  

  
  

  A Good SharePoint Blog:
  

  Penny on SharePoint - Penny Coventry MVP's SharePoint blog.
  

  
  

Move over Nigerian email scams, make way for something meatier

Sorry for the inconvenience, but there is a new and improved version of this post over on my new blog.

April 2007's Top Posts

I realized that I haven't listed the top posts for April yet, and here it is almost the end of May already. Jeez! Breath easy, your wait is over. Here they are:

1. How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database in Windows XP - An oldie but goodie. Lots of people have experienced this problem. There is hope though, from what I have seen so far, Vista's Offline Files behave much more reliably.
   
2. Strange SharePoint Restore Issue - When I was trying to restore a SharePoint backup, I ran into this weird error, and it turned out to have a silly cause. I'm glad to see that a bunch of people have found this post helpful.
   
3. Microsoft Access error: Compile error . in query expression - Yet another error (are we seeing a pattern here?) when I was writing some VBScript for Access.
   
4. User Submitted War Pigs Video Contest - I haven't actually looked to see what the results were for this contest, but I probably should...
   
5. Working with SharePoint Offline - Review of Revelation and Colligo for SharePoint - An old review I did for a handy application that lets you work with SharePoint offline.
   

   
   

   
   

Microsoft Offers Visual Studio for Free ?!?!

Sorry, but I have a new and improved version of this post over at my new blog. You should check it out.

Messing with the Idiots

I looked this video up on youtube because I saw a clip of it, and it looked pretty funny. Basically the Westboro Church was picketing, and a correspondent from a show decided to mess with them.

The clip below is about four minutes long, and it looks like it came from an Australian show.

If you aren't familiar with the wackos at the Westboro Church, they like to picket, holding signs with such lovely phrases as "God Hates Fags". For some reason, they keep coming to Colorado Springs, but it seems that they travel the country showing the entire nation what ignorant, hateful people they are. I'm sure that Kansas would like to see them leave permanently, and start claiming another state.

I did want to point out that they are protesting at a soldier's funereal, and a couple of the signs that I read were:

"Thank God for Dead Soldiers"
"Billy in Hell" ( with a picture on it. I assume that it is Billy's funereal.)
"Billy is a lying Whore"
"God Hates Cripple Soldiers".

I'm pretty sure that this display of freedom of speech isn't exactly what the founding fathers meant to defend.

Anyway, it is pretty funny to see someone mess with them. Enjoy.

Folder Navigation in Vista - Happiness is a Hyperlinked Address Bar

I almost panicked when I couldn't find the "up" button in Vista. I was never a big fan of using the back button, because when you start following shortcuts, or entering UNC paths in the address bar, it can get a little confusing.

I was pretty disappointed until I realized that all of the items in the address bar can be clicked on. I think that this is a really nice feature, and I'll explain why.

In this picture of XP's Windows Explorer, If I wanted to get back to the root of C:, I could either press "up" 2 times, or I could click in there and delete the "windows\system32" and then press enter.

The picture below is Vista's Windows Explorer, you'll notice that "Local Disk (C:)" is highlighted, and if I click on it, Explorer will jump directly to the C: drive. It gets even better. The arrow to the right of C: is a dropdown menu.

As you can see from the picture below, you can now see all of the folders available to you on the C: drive, and clicking on any of them will jump directly to that folder.

Even better, the menu to the left of "Computer" is also a drop down list which can be used to get to some other frequently used items (see image below).

Even though it's going to take a little getting used to, I think this change will really save me some time.

Rinbot.BC Worm Exploits Un-Patched Microsoft DNS Vulnerability

I heard about this vulnerability recently, and according to search security, there is now a worm, Rinbot.BC, using the exploit. I haven't heard any reports yet on how widespread the worm is, but it is probably a good idea to use the workaround mentioned in Microsoft Security Bulletin 935964.

The vulnerability was announced last week, and there is talk that Microsoft is going to issue a out of cycle patch to fix the issue. Windows Server 2000 SP4, and Windows Server 2003 SP1 and SP2 are effected. Of course clients don't run a DNS server, so Vista, XP and 2000 are not affected.

The security bulletin lists several ways to work around the vulnerability, I thought the easiest way was to use the method that uses the registry to disable remote management of the DNS server through RPC. Terminal services (including remote desktop), and the local machine will still be able to manage DNS settings.

Help Save Internet Radio

If you have been listening to or reading any Tech related news sites, then I'm sure that you've heard about the recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board to increase the royalties that internet radio stations have to pay.

If you aren't familiar with the decision, here is a fun breakdown of the change:

• Will almost Triple what internet Radio stations pay now.
  
• The new fees are more than four times what Satellite Radio Pays.
  
• Broadcast Radio does not pay these fees at all.
  
• They are retro-active back to 2006, although at a slightly lower fee.
  

  I think this is a big crock.
  

  SaveNetRadio.Org has a nice little form that you can use to contact your elected officials, so flex your democratic muscles and take a minute to fill it out.
  

  Some more reading:
  

  Save Net Radio.org
  

  Net Radio: 'New Song Royalties Will Kill Us' - PCWorld
  

What have I been up to?

Well, you probably can tell that I haven't been blogging, and I sure haven't been reading my RSS feeds either. So what have I been working on? Well:

Sleeping.

Last week I actually had 8 hours of sleep each night. It was crazy. I usually get about 6 hours, not counting what is taken away by interruptions such as:

- Whining dogs that need to go outside.

- A Meowing cat that also needs to go outside.

- Kids who have had nightmares.

- Carrying those kids to our bed, so they will stop being scared.

- Carrying those kids back to their bed, so they will stop kicking me in the back.

Trying to find something to organize my notes with.

I finally had enough when I was looking for a piece of information that I had just seen the other day, but it was able to hide from me in its deep dark file folder, beneath a nest of other file folders.

In looking for an application, I actually found some really neat stuff, and I settled on 1 really good application. I then spent some time migrating many of my notes over to the new application. Of course, then I found 1 really great program, and I had to migrate over to that. I think I'll stick with this one though, and I plan to post about what I found, eventually.

Watching Movies

I watched Sin City, Man of the Year, and Idiocracy, all very good.

Some other things I can't remember

Where does time go? I actually can't remember much of what else I was doing since my last post on the 1^st, or the span between that post and the one on the 27^th.

March 2007's Most Popular Posts

1. How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database in Windows XP - This is one of my favorite articles, since I can never remember how to do it, and it is easier to come here then to search somewhere else. If you are receiving "incorrect function" errors when trying to sync, this is a handy trick to know. This makes 2 months in a row that this post has been in the Number 1 slot.

2. The Outlook Dumpster - Adventures in Deleted Item Recovery - Very handy to know how to use the outlook dumpster. This has been the second most popular post for 2 months now.

3. Microsoft Access error: Compile error . in query expression -Pesky problem which took a good deal of research, but ended up having a nice straightforward fix. This post has been in the top 5 for 2 months now.

4. How to Find your Google PageRank - This post points to a couple of tools that will tell you what your Google PageRank is.

5. User Submitted War Pigs Video Contest -I haven't actually gone looking for any of the videos that were submitted for the contest, and the free MP3 giveaway has ended now, but people still keep finding this post.

Create your own warning labels

Oh, so many fun labels can be made from this. I didn't know about this site when I went around labeling our safety equipment at work with funny stuff. Now I am going to have to go back and do it all over again.

Warning Label Generator - Thanks for pointing it out Gadgetophile!

Feel the Link Love

The purpose of this list is to get some crazy link love going, the instructions are simple, and if everyone participates, then the results should be very good.

To Continue this Link Love list:
1. Copy and paste the list below into your blog post. Hopefully your blog editing software will be smart enough to copy the links over. If not, you can always look at the page source to get the HTML.
2. Add any blogs you want to the list, including the blog that listed you (this blog).

That's all there is to it, if the list continues, then everyone should get a bunch of links from other blogs, and everyone will be happy.

The List:
- Making Money on the Web
- Steve Wilson Marketing
- The Thinking Blog
- Affiliate Marketing Wave
- Your Blogging Guide

Google Bombing Still Lives?!?!

I could have sworn that I heard that Google had made changes so there could be no more Google Bombing.

However:
I did the "Win a Nintendo Wii from John Chow" post to enter John Chow's contest, and one of the requirements was to refer to him as the "root of all evil", and have that phrase linked to his blog. Currently, if you do a Google search for the "Root of all evil" (in quotation marks), his blog is the 3rd result.

Is this more John Chow evilness?

Technorati likes me again!

In the post I did last night, "633 days of Technorati Ignoring me", I mentioned that I had posted to the Technorati forum about my problem. Well, when I checked this morning, they had started to crawl my blog again.

I had an email from a Technorati Support person, Jose, apologizing for the problems, and someone even commented on my blog to let me know it was fixed.

The final count was 634 days, and to be fair to Technorati, I had only put in a trouble ticket about a week ago. I'm glad that they are indexing me again.

Also, my blog's rank in their index went from 2,831,421 to 1,282,695, whatever that means. I'm curious to see if I start getting traffic from Technorati.

Related Posts:
- 633 days of Technorati Ignoring Me
- Tecnorati is Officially off my Christmas Card List

633 days of Technorati Ignoring me

In February I posted about how Technorati was off my Christmas list, and as of today they say that I have not updated my blog in 633 days.

I'm kind of curious how long it will continue.

I have deleted my claim, then re-claimed my blog, and a week ago today entered a support ticket, but all to no avail.

Now, what I was going to do is compile a list of all the people in the forum who have that they are having the same problem, but everyone I looked at is now being updated. Hmmm....

Let me post there, and see what happens. Here is the Forum Post.

Win a Nintendo Wii from John Chow

That evil blog mogul John Chow is at it again.

I think this man is the root of all evil.

This time, he is giving away a Nintendo Wii to some random blogger who is able to follow the intricate rules of his contest. The rules are so complicated, that I doubt there will be many posts that qualify, and only the most pathetic blog monkeys will be able to jump through all of the hoops necessary.

You can see these ridiculous rules at "Evil Blog Contest - Win a Nintendo Wii", evidently the Wii was given to him by a promotional pens company 1234Pens.

Daylight Savings Time Havoc

This video gives us a glimpse into the living hell that we may have had to live through if armies of Techies didn't intervene on the worlds behalf.

Saw this on Incoherent Mumblings

How to use Google Analytics Video Series

If you have a web site or blog, Google Analytics is a pretty powerful tool for web site statistics. It provides you with a good deal of information for the low low price of free. You just place a little piece of code on your pages, and then sit back and watch the statistics come in.

The eMoms at home site pointed me to a set of really great videos posted by Ian Laurie on how to use Google Analytics.

Part 1 - Signing up for an account and placing the code on your site.
Part 2 - Essential Stats
Part 3 - Digging Deeper
Part 4 - Goals

Definitely something you want to check out if you use, or are thinking of using Google Analytics

- Ian Lurie Posts Google Analytics Video Tutorials - eMoms at home

How to find your Google PageRank

In a comment on my Technorati Post, the helpful rip referred to some of her sites as being a PR4, PR6, or PR7. I didn't think to ask, but after I replied I was wondering what that meant.

In short, PR is PageRank, and the number following it is the actual PageRank. If you would like to find out the page rank of your site, then you are reading the right post. I ran across this PageRank Lookup tool on the site SEO Tools which allows you to find out.

In case you weren't sure, the higher your page rank is, the better off you are. Also, in case you were wondering, SEO is "Search Engine Optimization"(I had to look that one up a couple of weeks ago).

Unfortunately for me, it isn't like Golf, if it were I would have people asking me what I did to get such a great page rank.

Just to see if my PageRank from this tool was a verifiable result, not some random number pulled out of the air, I went ahead and checked it with PageRank Checker at Top25Web and the results were the same. Not entirely scientific, but good enough for me. Thanks to an anonymous commenter on this post, I also tried the "Verify Google Page Rank" site, and it confirmed the number.

Now SEO Tools has a great deal of stuff packed onto their page, lots of links topics and some ads, but Top25Web looks like they fell out of the AdSense tree and hit every branch on the way down. The tool still works though.

I'm not terribly worried about my PageRank, at least not yet. I'm still working on just getting some content on the site, and maybe even start posting on a regular basis. Once I have that straightened out, then I'll start to put some time into PageRank, Keywords, and all that jazz.

Now, if you found this post because of the SEO and PageRank keywords, I don't want to leave you disappointed.

My Opinion
I think that the most read blogs in the blog-o-verse, or intra-blog-o-sphere-orama-2.0 are the ones about how to make money with your blogs. Of course, like any blogger with dreams of making a Scrooge McDuck pile of cash through blogging, I have read my fair share of "blogging for money" blogs, and "make your blog popular blogs". To sum it up, there are a lot of "blogging about blogging" blogs out there. So let me point you to a couple of blogs that I think are very worth reading, and that I bet you will find helpful in this area:

Some Recomendations
- The eMoms at Home Blog - Don't let the "Mom" in the title throw you off (if you happen to be a guy), this is an outstanding blog, with tons of great tips. She even has a free blog traffic e-course. When I first found this blog, I just went crazy following links, and I think that I gave her a ton of pageloads those days. The e-course also has some really great tips. Nothing underhanded about her tactics. Thanks Wendy!

- Pro Blogger - Everyone links to this site. Go visit it and you will see why. This is another blog that becomes a click fest once you get there. On top of all the great tips and content, the guy is bald too. Fellow follicle challenged bloggers unite!

References:
- PageRank Lookup - SEO Tools
- 10 Related page Rank Tools & 136 SEO tools - SEOCompany
- PageRank Checker - Top25Web
- Verify Google Page Rank
- eMoms at Home
- 10 Days to a Better Blog - eCourse from eMoms at home.
- ProBlogger

February 2007's Top 5 Posts

1. How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database in Windows XP - This is one of my favorite articles, since I can never remember how to do it, and it is easier to come here then to search somewhere else. If you are receiving "incorrect function" errors when trying to sync, this is a handy trick to know.

2. The Outlook Dumpster - Adventures in Deleted Item Recovery - Very handy to know how to use the outlook dumpster.

3. Winamp Site Hacked? -This was one event that my friend Art pointed out. I posted about it, and within 2 hours the site was fixed.

4. Microsoft Access error: Compile error . in query expression -Pesky problem which took a good deal of research, but ended up having a nice straightforward fix.

5. Remove a Service with the Command Prompt -Another post that I end up looking up more often then I care to admit. I'm glad that others have found it useful.

Technorati is officially off my Christmas Card List

Did you ever have a cousin that you met once at a family reunion? Maybe you talked it up some, and really enjoyed the conversation. Then after the reunion, well life gets in the way, and the next thing you know, you haven’t talked to that cousin in a very long time. Maybe you feel like a big heel for not calling.

OK, if you are still with me, imagine that the cousin has made attempts to contact you, letters, phone calls, yet when you see the name on the caller ID, you let the answering machine answer the call.

You also make sure that you are really quiet, since you never tested to see if the microphone on the machine is actually off when it is taking a message, and you would hate for him to hear you and start yelling “I know your home; I can hear you breathing in the background!!!”

In this case, Technorati is the one being quiet, and this blog is that ignored cousin.

What I am referring to is the inability of Technorati to find my blog, and the stubborn refusal of my pings. As you can see from the image above, Technorati doesn’t think my blog has been updated in 620 days. If you scroll down a little bit, you will notice, that I have in fact posted in 2006, and shockingly, in 2007 as well. Granted, I haven’t posted with any consistency, but come on, there have been posts!





I don’t quite understand why, I use their handy dandy ping button, and when I use Performancing, I set it to ping Technorati, but for some reason, Technorati continues to ignore me.

So I say to you Technorati, in front of all my loyal readers reader, no soup for you! You shall remain without soup until you update your stats on my blog. At such a point, there will be soup aplenty, but not until then.

Some blogs that Technorati and I both love:
- The How to Geek
- Tech-Recipes
- Windows Connected
- LifeHacker
- 43 Folders

Update: Johnny Cash over at "Making Money on the Web" posted a comment that he has the same problem with Technorati. A quick look in their blog directory says that his site hasn't been updated in 52 Days, and I am up to 626 days without an update. He also has a post about his problems titled "My Technorati Woe"

Google offers all of its free apps now as a service

On the Google Blog they announced the availability of their applications in a convenient subscription model. Now you can pay $50 per user, per year, and get all their wonderful free apps. They are calling the bundle Google Apps Enterprise.

They are also offering editions for families and groups, small businesses, and schools.

Wait a minute, I can pay for something that they have been offering for free? Let me jump on that train.

I'm not sure how successful this is going to be, of course Google has eleventy hundred gillion users, but really, are the apps that good?

I haven't used Calendar or spreadsheets, and only briefly used Talk. I use Documents sometimes, but if they discontinued the free service and started charging $1 a month, I would quit using it so fast that my Google cookie would be left hanging in the air, spinning around.

I had joked that one day in the future I would reminisce about the good old days when Microsoft almost had a Monopoly on operating systems and software, because now Google controls everything. Maybe this is the beginning. Maybe next it will be Google Democracy.

Thanks to Paul Thurrott for pointing it out.

Update: Wired News has a article titled "Google Apps: Should you switch?" and there were a few things that I thought were wrong about it.

1. The Article States that:

"Pricing is set at $50 per user per year, less expensive than Microsoft Office but with much the same functionality. Microsoft has its own web-based suite of tools in Office Live, but the company's offering doesn't match Google's. And Google isn't going after Office Live, it's going after Office."

Um, no Offense Michal Calore, but have you actually used the two sets of applications?

Google Docs isn't even close to Word. I haven't used spreadsheets at all, but I'm sure that it is limited as well. Sure, if you need a word processor, then go ahead and use Docs and Spreadsheets, but I just could not imaging using Google Docs and Spreadsheets exclusively.

2. He does mention that there isn't a PowerPoint equivalent, although I thought I had read that there was a Google Presentation app coming out, I haven't seen it. Yes, PowerPoint is a hugely popular program, but let's not forget Access. I know Google Base can't compete with that.

I also think that there isn't an Outlook killer either, at least not for a corporate environment. Outlook has a whole slew of nice features that GMail and Calendar just can't match.

A Couple of Interesting Sites

Bloglines Image Wall – Not Work Friendly

The Bloglines image wall crawls a bunch of blogs, and takes an image from them, which it then places in this wall. Each Image is linked to the blog which originated it. The Wall is constantly updated, and sometimes you will see an image and just have to click on it to see what the heck is going on. The first time I looked at it there was some weird pictures, and the second time there were some adult images.

The wall itself is 6 images wide by 4 images tall, but before you view it you have to agree that you are an adult, and that you understand that you may be exposed to horrific adult images (Gasp).

Bloglines Wall of Images

Yahoo pipes is a “do your own mashup” platform. It looks like you can do some really crazy stuff with it. It has a very interesting GUI interface which you use to build your pipes. One of the pipes on the site takes headlines from the New York Times, and searches for key words. Then those keywords are used to search through Flickr.

After you create a Pipes set (not sure of the exact terminology), you can publish it, and subscribe to it via RSS. You can also take Pipes that others have made, clone them, and modify them to your liking. All in all, I think some really neat stuff is going to come out of this. The one think I don't like very much is the name, and only because it sounds strange to refer to single items with a plural.

Me: "I built some neat pipes today"

My imaginary friend: "Oh, how many?"

Me: "Just one."

Oh never mind, just go check it out if you are into this type of thing.

- Yahoo Pipes
- New York Times through Flickr

Mac Vs. PC Spoof

I heard part of this video on Net@Night, and had to see it for myself. It was just pretty funny. I'm not a big fan of the Mac vs. PC commercials, they were funny at first, but then they really started to grasp at straws.


This next one is a little long, about 4 minutes. It is supposed to be a bunch of rejected ads, and some of them are pretty funny. I'm glad to see Amiga make an appearance.


I would still like to see a spoof where the Mac has a midget, maybe Mini me from Austin Powers, and when asked Mac replies "Oh, this is my Market Share".

Other Links:
- iTunes doesn't work on Vista yet?
- Mike has Finally bought an iPod

5 Reasons to leave your Wireless Devices turned off at the RSA conference

This is all from the article "RSA: Attendees drop ball on Wi-Fi security" over at ComputerWorld. The wireless security vendor AirDefense Inc was monitoring the Wireless networks during the conference. Here are some of their findings, and the reasons I would have my wireless turned off if I were at the RSA conference.

1. 30 Devices pretending to be access points.
Not only were they pretending to be access points, but they were pretending to be access points from the conference network. One of them even had a self-sign certificate made to look like the conference authentication server. Others were configured to look like T-Mobile and IBAHN access points, as well as the access points of local hotels.

2. I like my service, so please don't Deny it.
There were 57 Denial of Service attacks on the first day of the conference, including jamming and de-authenticating clients. What fun.

3. Lots of Scanning
NetStumbler and similar programs were scanning for access points regularly. The article says that it was by attendees, but who can really be sure.

4. I don't want anyone else controlling my computer.
On the second day of the conference, one attacker had taken over 8 machines, and was using them to launch attacks on other machines.

5. I should be the only one who knows my password
A whole bunch of the clients connecting to the bogus access points were advertising domain information, including authentication server, user name, computer name, as well as sending out the authentication hashes which contained username and password.

Making it a little easier for the bad guys
AirDefense Inc, also found that more than half of the wireless devices in use at the RSA conference were not secure. Remember, the RSA is the security division of EMC, and the attendees are the people responsible for their company's computer security.

This would be like finding out Bill Gates uses Linux, that Steve Jobs has a Windows Logo tattooed on his rear, or going to a hair stylist who has a mullet.

Some other things they found were unsecured wireless access points with two notorious names, one named "Free Internet Access" and one called "Linksys". Not only were these access points out there, but 70 devices connected to them on the first day, and 87 on the second day!

There were obviously other "security experts" in attendance
Obviously there were hackers there, trying to mess around with the experts. I think that I will make sure to turn my wireless off anytime I go to a big conference like this one. I remember reading something about all the stuff going on at the last DEF CON.

I wonder if anyone was checking this at CES. I know there were a whole slew of people blogging from there.

ITunes doesn't work on Vista yet?

I found this CNET article kind of strange, evidently Apple is telling iTunes users not to install Windows Vista. Evidently, there is a patch to fix some problems specific to music which was purchased from the iTunes store, but it doesn't fix any of the compatibility issues, one of which is corrupting your iPod.

Although not a conclusive number by any means, and it may be affected by the gaining popularity of the iPod, in October 2004, CNet reported that since iTunes was ported to Windows, Apple's iPod sales have more than doubled. I don't think Apple has released these numbers, or at least I haven't been able to find them. If you know what they are, feel free to post a link.

What I found strange about this whole thing, is that Microsoft made 2 release candidates available, and there is still an issue with iTunes? Didn't apple bother to get one of them and test iTunes out?

I am sure that if I can get my hands on one, so can Apple. Heck, the release version of Windows Vista has been out for over a month, just not to retail. I know Apple has to have at least 5 Windows Licenses, they have to have a Software Assurance package, or at least a MSDN subscription.

Maybe I am way off base here. Maybe at the last possible minute, Microsoft changed the way everything works in Vista, and told Apple that everything was hunky dory. Maybe Steve Jobs was way too busy with the iPhone, maybe John Gruber over at Daring Fireball can fill me in on what is going on here, or at least call me a jackass for saying something negative about Apple.

UPDATE 3/6/2007 : Apple has released an updated version of iTunes, version 7.1 (you can get it here) which is supposed to address the issues mentioned above with Vista. Thanks to Paul Thurrott for pointing it out. His thoughts on it are available here. More information from Apple.

Related Links:
- Mike has finally bought an IPod!?!?

References:
- Apple Whistles a happy iTunes - CNET News
- Apple Releases Vista Compatibility Patch For iTunes, But Problems Remain - CRN Australia
- Speaking of Clowns - DaringFireball.net
- iTunes and Windows Vista - Paul Thurrott's blog
- iTunes and Windows Vista - Apple
- iTunes Download - Apple

Mike has finally bought an IPod!?!?

I just purchased an iPod, which is really amazing for me, because I don't get to buy gadgets, mostly because I'm cheap, but I finally broke down and bought a refurbished Nano.

It is really nice to add some really enjoyable content to the parts of my life where it fits. Ever since I ran across the TWIT Netcast network, I started really getting into some of the excellent Podcasts or Netcasts that are out there.

I had tried to listen to podcasts at work, but to be perfectly honest, I can't sacrifice that much of my brain's CPU cycles to actually paying attention to the podcast. After all, I want to really listen to the podcast, not just have it as background noise, and since I am at work, I am really trying to cram as much "work" into my time as I can, so I am already doing several things at the same time.

So Podcasts just don't fit well into my time at work, but I will tell you where they do fit, they fit very nicely in the 40 minutes to an hour each day that I spend driving back and forth to work, or the time I spend cleaning the house and yard. I mean come on, how much brain power do you need to pick up dog turds (in the yard, not the house).

So far the battery life is pretty darn good, it lasts me several days but of course I am not listening to it non stop. I was also surprised that the Nano supports a calendar, contacts, and can be used as a USB drive when it is plugged into your computer. It even has a couple of games on it.

The only thing that I don't like about the IPod is the tremendously huge ear buds that come with it. They pop out at the slightest head movement. I think I am going to have to find a replacement for them, although I think I may be getting used to them.

Winamp Site Hacked?

Strange thing today, I tried to download Winamp, and as soon as you make all of your selections, and click download, instead of a download screen, you get this:


I thought at first that this might be displayed while I am waiting for the download to start. The URL listed was:
http://download.nullsoft.com/

It gets a little bit stranger, I pinged download.nullsoft.com, and it is resolving to 172.30.74.154, which is in a reserved address range. A ping from www.network-tools.com resolves it to 172.20.149.50.

If you do a whois on nullsoft, the ip address is 205.188.234.120

I wonder if this has anything to do with the DNS Root Server attack yesterday.

Update 11:30: Winamp fixed the problem. The site is now resolving to 149.174.36.119 and the page is a directory listing of the site. Downloads work fine now. I'll be curious if they ever say what happened.

Undo.tv

Wow! I had almost forgotten about Undo.tv, but today I received an invite! My profile page says that I am member number 3159.

I don't see any way to invite other people, so please don't ask me for an invite. You can register for an invitation code on the Undo.tv web page. I can't even remember how long ago it was when I first signed up. The site has a banner, after you log in, that states that they are in "Private Beta".

I remember listening to either Net@Night or Inside the Net (which is not net@night), and Chris Pirollo was on the show talking about UndoTV. They also had someone from PikSpot, which is the company hosting the site. It sounded to me like UndoTV was going to be the first real big launch of PikSpot. If you go to the PikSpot site, you can register for a invitation to PikSpot there (don't confues it with an invitation to UndoTV).

I went in to update my profile, and I was utterly amazed at the amount of personal information, and site memberships that you can enter into the form. They include:

Communications
- Yahoo
- AIM
- MSN
- ICQ (I didn't even know ICQ was still around)
- Google Talk

Site Memberships
- Flickr
- LiveJournal
- MySpace
- SecondLife
- Upcoming.org
- LinkedIn

They have spots for sites you own, favorite links, and a bunch of other stuff too.

I was looking through the members, and of course, Leo Laporte and Chris Pirillo are on the site (they were the driving force behind the creation of the site, if you didn't already know), but Amber Mac is on there too.

As far as I can tell, besides just searching for content, you can subscribe to content that particular members are creating. Each piece of media has links and code on it so that you can embed it on your web site, and the system seems to work with "Kudos". If you like something, you can send them a Kudo, which I think may be like Diggs, but both the member and the media collects the Kudo.

Looks pretty interesting, I am looking forward to poking around some more.