I apologize to anyone who had problems accessing the blog and related sites today. Heavy rains in the area knocked out our Internet connection for about 6 hours. We’re back up for now, but the rains are expected to continue, so please bear with us.
Category Archives: Tech
Less Comment Spam
Comment spam has been on the rise lately, and I’ve been deploying anti-spam software on the blogs to counteract the recent increase in spam activity. Akismet is a great tool, sorting out 99.8% of the comment spam I’ve received in the last couple of months with very few errors. Available as a plug-in to WordPress, …
Out with Windows in with…
This is the operating system I chose to install on the Shuttle XPC. (Click to enlarge) And here’s one of the entire rig. (Click to enlarge) With the correct tools from the Web, the entire process was pretty much point-and-click. Sound, video (Quartz Extreme and Core Image), and Rosetta were all working immediately; overall this …
I don’t do Windows (anymore)
Well I finally did it; I dumped Microsoft Windows from all my personal computers. Truthfully, this has been a long time coming, and this week I finally figured it was time to move on. Let me explain… My main computers have been Apple’s Macintosh line since 1988. I feel like I spend more time on …
AP: Microsoft launching security subscription service
Associated Press is reporting that Microsoft launching security subscription service. So let me get this straight, you now have to pay to have the people who left holes in your operating system to protect you from those holes. Of course, if you don’t pay then you and your business will be vulnerable to attack. Isn’t …
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The CREATE USB Interface
Ok, this looks kick ass. It’s an interface board to allow direct connection of sensors or other electronic inputs via USB (they also have a bluetooth version) without the need for custom device drivers. This is totally cool. I wish these had been around when I was a kid, I might have wrecked fewer controllers/computers/stuff. …
The difference between Macs and PCs
An excerpt of a question from a friend: [I didn’t have time to work out an Internet connection before travelling.] Fortunately the neighbors seem to have an open [access point]. 🙂 Any tips on or precautions to observe…? My response: Do not start IE under any circumstance, have the latest virus stuff installed, and snag …
Windows compatibility in Mac OS X
While, I usually find myself agreeing with Robert X. Cringely (aka. Mark Stephens) more often than not, his current article get so much wrong that I begin to even wonder if he’s got a clue or not. First, the idea that Apple should switch from a microkernel to a monolithic kernel for the performance increase …
Windows fans catching up with reality?
Well, it’s finally starting to happen; even the usually unflappable windows fan press is starting to catch on to the fact that Microsoft has gutted Windows Vista (something I blogged about over 6 months ago). Paul Thurrott goes over recent builds of Vista and analyzes the remaining features; the conclusions he comes to don’t make …
Blog upgrade
I just upgraded the software that runs this blog to a newer version. If you find any glitches or bugs, please leave me a comment (or e-mail me directly), and I’ll see if I can work it out. Thanks!