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It looks like Search your computers is working again on Foldershare. From what I could tell, Foldershare was having system difficulties, preventing most, but not all, of my clients from logging on. Right now, I am logged on again from my MacBook Pro and I can once again search all of my machines!
I sure hope Microsoft will maintain full support for Mac OS as they enhance and integrate Foldershare with the rest of Microsoft Live services.
May 24, 2006 at 12:07 AM in Windows | Permalink | Comments (0)
I guess we knew it would happen sooner or latter after Microsoft's acquisition of FolderShare - Mac support was going to lack, and probably fade altogether.
You used to be able to search all of your computers via the Foldershare web client. Foldershare would use Windows Desktop Search and Spotlight to search each computer and return a combined search result across all of your computers. Today, I needed to find a file on one of my remote computers, I went to www.foldershare.com and selected "Access My Files". What do I find?
Not only it won't search with Spotlight anymore, but now I can't even use my mac's browser to search my longly Windows PC.
Bummer.
May 23, 2006 at 02:51 PM in Apple, Microsoft | Permalink | Comments (0)
My safari to Africa is less than 48h away, and while I tried to do as much preparation up front as possible, there are a few items that I still need to secure for my trip.
Satellite Phone
I decided to rent a satellite phone to ensure that I have a reliable means of communication back to the USA. There are 2 major satellite phone system in operation: Iridium and Globalstar. But only Iridium covers Tanzania (Iridium is the world's only truly global mobile satellite telephone).
The rental itself is pretty inexpensive - $34.99/week, but the per-minute charges can add up quickly at $1.36 per minute. I opted to pre-pai for 20 min a day to secure a lower calling rate. All in all, the satellite rental and usage will cost me ~$450
I rented my satellite phone from AllRoadCommunications.
May 23, 2006 at 02:07 PM in African Safari | Permalink | Comments (0)
"Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is currently unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience."
Microsoft released a beta of the Vista Upgrade Advisor yesterday only to quickly take it offline today. Oh well...
May 19, 2006 at 04:30 PM in Windows | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Release Candidate of Parallels Workstation is now available, and with it came a change to how you can simulating a right mouse click - a much needed feature for MacBook Pro users wanting to run Win XP.
The new key combination for a right click is now: ctrl+shift+click.
May 19, 2006 at 11:25 AM in Apple | Permalink | Comments (0)
I should have known better, especially since this is not the final Beta 2 public release. The current build 5381 of Windows Vista is not ready to be my primary work desktop.
- No support for my HP Officejet 7100 printer
- No support for the audio card in my HP M7167 desktop
- No support for my virus checker - Windows One Care
And more importantly, a constant stream of blue screens and overall system instability.
I will give Vista another try when Microsoft releases a public beta, and I will hold judgment until then as well.
For now, I am back to Windows XP on my work desktop (and OS X everywhere else).
May 19, 2006 at 09:20 AM in Windows | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Furrygoat Experience blog led me to the Girlfriend 6.0 vs Wife 1.0 - Comparative Trial - it is worth a read, but I am afraid that only a tech guy can truly appreciate it!
May 17, 2006 at 09:54 PM in Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)
I upgrade my office PC to Windows Vista build 5381 but it hasn't been a good experience so far. Maybe i should just wait for the official Beta 2 release.
Once again I choose to do a clean install instead of upgrading my XP installation. This time I had an HP Desktop available for my use.
Sound card - Vista was not able to detect and install the proper audio drivers.
Printers - Vista detected my HP Officejet 7100 printer and installed drivers for it but I am unable to print to it. Vista was unable to find my other networked printers.
Internet - IE 7 is struggling with various web pages. My own blog, for example, does not display well under IE 7 on Vista build 5381.
Foldershare - Foldershare is unable to recognize the new directory structure under Vista - c:\user\cris and it is not able to create a new directory under the My Pictures folder as an example. I have a feeling a lot of 3rd party apps will get tripped up by this.
May 15, 2006 at 03:16 PM in Microsoft | Permalink | Comments (0)
I am sure this must be documented somewhere, if only I read manuals...
If you want to launch and use Apple's Frontrow but you don't have your remote control with you, you can invoke Frontrow by pressing Command-ESC. You can navigate around with arrow keys, use space bar to select, and press ESC to go back.
Handy... just in time for my trip down to San Diego. Time to catch up on 24 second season.
May 15, 2006 at 03:00 PM in Apple, OS X Tips | Permalink | Comments (1)
I finished installing Vista build 5381 on my Dell. Setup worked, but not without its issues:
Wireless Network - I use a Linksys WUSB54G usb wireless adapter, Vista does not have built in drivers for this wireless adapter. As a result, I was not online after installing Vista. I had to go download the drivers from Linksys and manually install it on Vista in order to go online. Vista connected to my wireless network but "had limited availability". It took 3 retries for it to establish a successful connection - weird.
Windows Mail - unable to connect natively to my Hotmail account, it asks for a POP3 or IMAP settings. I hope MSN/Hotmail will be supported natively by Windows Mail.
Windows Messenger - where is it? I can't find a native IM client. I suppose I could download one from http://ideas.live.com, but won't Vista ship with one by default?
Enough playing around. I am going to install an IM client (Windows Live Messenger), VOIP (Skype), anti-virus (one care), Office 2003 and then let my family use this computer for a few days to see how it holds up to our daily PC chores.
May 12, 2006 at 11:58 PM in Windows | Permalink | Comments (4)
I have been avoiding installing Windows Vista for 6 months now, but I told a friend today that I would take the time to install the latest official "friends and family" build this weekend and provide my feedback - privately.
Vista setup is currently at 27% "Copying Windows files" on a newly formatted Dell Dimension 5100C with 2GB of RAM, 250 GB HD, and an unknown video card (I never used this box before).
I must admit, I am kind of excited to be installing a new version of Windows for the first time in over 4 years. How will it compare to my Macs? Is this build close enough to a public beta? I will know soon enough.
I will post my overall impression here in the next few days - without compromising any confidentiality agreement.
May 12, 2006 at 09:49 PM in Windows | Permalink | Comments (0)
Apple has published its 3rd security update for 2006. There is no question that there are fewer (any?) viruses on OS/X and fewer security breaches on OS/X powered machines. But like any modern OS, OS X still has its share of security vulnerabilities. Apple's main saving grace has been the fact that fewer people are actively trying to exploit these vulnerabilities as a result of Apple's small market share (< 5%).
Check out some of the fixes covered by Apple's latest security update.
AppKit, ImageIO
Impact: Viewing a maliciously-crafted GIF or TIFF image may lead to arbitrary code execution
BOM
Impact: Expanding an archive may lead to arbitrary code execution
Impact: Expanding a malicious archive may cause arbitrary files to be created or overwritten
CFNetwork
Impact: Visiting malicious web sites may lead to arbitrary code execution
CoreFoundation
Impact: Registration of an untrusted bundle may lead to arbitrary code execution
Impact: String conversions to file system representation may lead to arbitrary code execution
CoreGraphics
Impact: Characters entered into a secure text field can be read by other applications in the same window session
Finder
Impact: Launching an Internet Location item may lead to arbitrary code execution
FTPServer
Impact: FTP operations by authenticated FTP users may lead to arbitrary code execution
ImageIO
Impact: Viewing a maliciously-crafted JPEG image may lead to arbitrary code execution
Keychain
Impact: An application may be able to use Keychain items when the Keychain is locked
LaunchServices
Impact: Viewing a malicious web site may lead to arbitrary code execution
libcurl
Impact: URL handling in libcurl may lead to arbitrary code execution
Mail
Impact: Viewing a malicious mail message may lead to arbitrary code execution
Preview
Impact: Navigating a maliciously-crafted directory hierarchy may lead to arbitrary code execution
QuickDraw
Impact: Viewing a maliciously-crafted PICT image may lead to arbitrary code execution
Safari
Impact: Visiting malicious web sites may lead to file manipulation or arbitrary code execution
How many different ways was there to accidently trigger a malicious code when simply viewing a web page or reading an email?
This should not come as a surprise to anyone in the technology industry, but I am sure it is a shocker to most consumers who have been bombarded with OS X "I am invulnerable" mantra.
Bottom line: always use common sense when browsing the web or read email messages - even if you are using a Mac.
May 12, 2006 at 03:16 PM in Apple | Permalink | Comments (0)
It is week 2 for my FJ Cruiser and another tank of gas was used. This time, with the same commuting routine, I got 2 extra miles per gallon, and my cost per mile was $0.06 cheaper.
Miles driven: 250.400 miles
Fuel Pumped: 15.787 gallons
Fuel price: $ 3.299 per gallon (92 octane)
Total cost: $ 52.08
Fuel Economy: 15.86 MPG
Dollars per mile: $ 0.21
May 12, 2006 at 10:49 AM in Automotive | Permalink | Comments (0)
To identify if incompatible Startup or Login items are causing problems, you can boot OS X in safe mode:
To leave Safe Mode, restart the computer normally, without holding any keys during startup.
May 11, 2006 at 11:48 PM in Apple | Permalink | Comments (0)
Scott Kelly has a 21 days, 5 minutes a day, online Photoshop course offered through Photoshoptraining.com. The cost for the Photoshop for Digital Photographers course is 69.99 for 21 lessons.
Might be something fun to do for when I return from Safari is early June with GB needing processing.
May 10, 2006 at 03:12 AM in Photography | Permalink | Comments (0)
I am giving Apple's Bootcamp solution a second try. The main reason for the reinstall is that I want to compare the performance of Parallels Workstation VM against native Windows XP, as well as compare Bibble running on OS/X vs. Windows.
I noticed once again that my power management functions do not work under bootcamp -- the screen saver is never activated, the display never goes dark, the MacBook Pro never goes into sleep mode while running Windows. I wonder when a beta 2 of Bootcamp with updated Windows drivers will be available.
I should have the MacBook Pro performance tests done later on today.
May 10, 2006 at 02:57 AM in Apple, Windows | Permalink | Comments (0)
"More than half of the photographs in the past 12 issues of National Geographic were made with digital cameras." Chris Johns, editor National Geographic Guide to Digital Photography.
May 09, 2006 at 12:02 AM in Photography | Permalink | Comments (0)
Digital Photography School -- interesting blog with common sense tips and suggestions for improving your photography.
May 09, 2006 at 12:01 AM in Photography | Permalink | Comments (0)
It is possible to set two different resolutions for your Parallels Workstation VM - one for windowed mode and one for full-screen mode. When in window mode I like to have a smaller screen so that I can more easily navigate to my other Mac applications. While in full screen mode, I like to maximize the screen real estate available.
Luckily Parallels Workstation enables me to set a different screen resolution for each mode, except they made it hard to find, and not very intuitive (maybe it is in the user guide, but who reads manuals?).
In order to allow for different screen resolutions for window vs. full-screen mode you must go to Preferences/User Interface and uncheck "Change Mac OS X resolution". Now go back to your VM and set a screen resolution while in window mode (1024x768), switch to full screen and set a different resolution (1440x900). You can now switch back and forth between window vs. full-screen and preserve the different screen resolutions for each one!
May 08, 2006 at 04:36 PM in Apple | Permalink | Comments (0)
I decided to give Parallels Workstation a try since I am back to carrying two laptops for work once again. Parallels Workstation beta 6 installation was smooth and performance is decent for normal office tasks (email, word, excel, IM, browsing).
However, in its current beta state I cannot use Parallels Workstation as a viable alternative to a Windows laptop. USB support is still very limited and I am unable to get a Windows Mobile device to be recognized by the VM. Until USB devices work reliably, I won't be able to use Parallels Workstation as my work laptop.
iSight also does not work with the beta 6 release, maybe because Apple has not provided Windows drivers for it yet (it also does not work with Bootcamp). Getting iSight to work would be very high on my list - as it would finally enable me to hold VC calls with my business colleagues (MS Messenger users).
All in all, I can see this product maturing into an essential tool for Mac users - giving us the best of both worlds. Can't wait for the final product.
May 08, 2006 at 12:37 PM in Apple, Microsoft | Permalink | Comments (0)
While I am going to Tanzania on a photography safari I figure it would still be nice to capture some video while I am at it. My video plans are much simpler than my photography ones. Here is all that I am taking from a video equipment perspective.
That's it.
May 07, 2006 at 12:01 AM in African Safari | Permalink | Comments (0)
There is yet another article in the Seattle Times about the real estate market in King County, WA. Here are some of the highlights:
"A $2.5 million home drew two offers and sold in four days"
"We haven't had any inventory, so when something comes on, and it's considered well-priced and has a fairly well-thought-out floor plan, it goes," she said. "Prices have ratcheted up, too."
"scant inventory is taking a bite out of sales and helping pump up prices"
See the actual article for a complete coverage.
May 06, 2006 at 02:57 AM in House | Permalink | Comments (0)
After much deliberation here is the final list of photo equipment that I will be taking on Safari in 3 weeks. This equipment will be shared with my father, so it is not as bad as it looks.
Cameras:
Optics/Filters:
Flash System:
Batteries:
Film/CF Card:
Miscellaneous:
Chargers:
Backpacks:
What's the drawback of all this gear? No, it is not the weight, the major drawback is that when I return from Tanzania with a bunch of ordinary photographs, I won't be able to blame my equipment.
May 06, 2006 at 12:26 AM in African Safari, Photography | Permalink | Comments (0)
I have had my FJ Cruiser now for 1 week, and gas mileage is even lower than I anticipated. The EPA rating for the FJ Cruiser automatic is 17MPG for city, and 21 MPG for highway.
All my driving was city commuting, no highway driving and no off-road driving. The low gas light turned on when the odometer read 200 miles, and I drove for another 11 miles until I felt I should stop to fill up.
211 miles driven
15.43 Gallons of premium 92 octane gasoline
$3.259 per gallon
Total cost: $50.74
Fuel economy: 13.67 MPG
Dollars per mile: $0.27
That's the most I have ever paid for any full tank of gas on a car (boats excluded), and that's also the shortest distance I have ever driven on a full tank.
But all in all I love the car. Let's see how I feel after 12,000 miles and $3,234 later.
May 06, 2006 at 12:02 AM in Automotive | Permalink | Comments (0)
Lifehacker pointed me to a post by Josh Smith with a simple tip that will come in handy for my upcoming move.
"In the past we have had to work through fitting our furniture into a small room and having family members and friends all sharing their opinions on where the different pieces of furniture should go. This creates chaos and that is my number one enemy during a move. This move I used scrap paper to map out the proportions and taped together versions of our furniture."
See Josh's blog for more details and pictures.
Sounds like a fun project for the weekend!
May 05, 2006 at 02:48 PM in House | Permalink | Comments (0)
We will be spending 16 days in Tanzania, we have a weight limit of 34 lbs for all of our luggage, and all of our clothing needs to fit inside of a single 30" x 14" duffel bag (per person).
Duffel bag (30" x `4")
Small Duffel bag for gifts to bring back
Locks for baggage
1 Rain jacket
1 Fleece Jacket hard wear wind-resistent
2 Convertible Travel Pants (w/ lots of pockets, w/ SPF 30-50 protection)
1 Pair of Shorts (w/ pockets, , w/ SPF 30-50 protection)
3 Long sleeve shirts (quick drying, wrinkle free, button down, roll-up sleeves, , w/ SPF 30-50 protection)
2 Short-sleeve shirts (quick drying, , w/ SPF 30-50 protection)
7 Pairs of underwear
7 Socks (light-weight, non-white, quick-drying)
2 Hiking shoes (non-white, trail running)
1 Hat (wide-brim, tie-on, neck and ear protection)
1 Photo Vest
1 Pair of Sunglasses
1 Pair of pajamas
1 Towel (thin, quick drying)
May 05, 2006 at 07:39 AM in African Safari, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0)
Rich Tong has a great review on ideal clothing for traveling. And REI starts their anniversary sale today - just in time for last minute shopping before my safari!
May 05, 2006 at 12:57 AM in African Safari | Permalink | Comments (0)
Thanks to comments by Brian G and Billy I was able to quickly troubleshoot the problem I was having with my Mac mini and my 1080P LCD TV.
Most televisions have some overscan or cropping of the picture, regardless of the resolution. I've seen some LCD TVs have a special "mode" where the overscan "feature" is defeated specifically for computer usage.
...
the mini have an overscan option in the Display System Preference
I was able to turn off the "overscan" setting under the Displays in System Preferences. Once the overscan setting was turned off I was able to see the entirety of my Apple desktop!
There is a 3rd party utility that might help those without the "overscan" option in their Macs -- see DisplayConfigX for more info.
Thanks for the help!
P.S. I plan to connect an EyeTV 250 to the Mac mini as I continue to pursue a Mac based Media Center solution.
May 05, 2006 at 12:36 AM in Apple | Permalink | Comments (5)
May 05, 2006 at 12:22 AM in African Safari | Permalink | Comments (0)
With just under 3 weeks to go before my safari to Tanzania it is time to prepare my final check list.
First category on my list is the medicine bag:
Almost enough here to start a mini hospital.
May 05, 2006 at 12:01 AM in African Safari | Permalink | Comments (0)
Probably the only perk of waiting in a doctors office is the chance to read some automotive magazines. It has been a few years since I really paid attention to sport cars (I drive an FJ Cruiser - nothing sporty there).
This months feature article for Automobile magazine is on the Bugatti Veyron. Here is my favorite quote from the whole article:
"Fact: If you drive a Veyron at its top speed, it will run out of fuels in twelve minutes."
The Veyron by the numbers:
Now that's a super car!
May 04, 2006 at 05:03 PM in Automotive | Permalink | Comments (0)
My family doctor is not able to give me a Yellow Fever vaccine, it seems that I need to go to a specialized clinic for some of the vaccines I need to take for my trip to Tanzania.
If you need to take some more exotic vaccines for an overseas trip, I found a place in King County/WA that can accommodate almost any vaccine needs.
Eastside Travel Medicine
1200 116th Ave NE, Suite D
Bellevue, WA 98042
(425) 455-8248
May 04, 2006 at 11:33 AM in African Safari | Permalink | Comments (0)
My Intel Mac mini arrived the other day and I got a chance to hook it up to my 37" 1080p LCD TV. Image quality seems great but the TV is cropping the image. About 32 pixels are being cut all around, making it impossible to see the Apple menu at the top and most of the Dock at the bottom. What's weird is that I changed the resolution on my Mac mini to every resolution possible, including 800x600 and in every mode the TV is cropping the edges of the display, even when the resolution would clearly fit inside a 1920x1080 screen.
I bought a 1080P set exclusively to run my Mac as 1080P content is non-existent otherwise. I did buy a cheap TV set from Costco, a Sceptre 37" LCD HDTV. But reviews everywhere for this model had been great, plus it was nearly impossible to find a 1080P set 3 months ago.
I need to figure out what is amiss with my setup, it will be great to run the Mac mini on a 37" 1920x1080 pixel display.
May 03, 2006 at 09:21 PM in Apple | Permalink | Comments (3)
newertechnology has announced their new miniStack v.2 750 GB 7,500 RPM external hard-drive that is a perfect match to a Mac mini - same dimensions as a Mac mini.
The drive supports both fire-wire and USB 2 interfaces. Great addition to any Mac mini that will be serving the role of a media server, and perfect addition to my home network of Mac!
<Of course this drive would work just as well on any Windows PCs>
May 02, 2006 at 10:57 AM in Apple | Permalink | Comments (0)
Apple has started a new TV campaign titled "Why you will love a Mac". They have 6 30 seconds TV commercials emphasizing key Mac strengths, the 6 videos are available for viewing or downloading online.
The "Why you will love a mac" web page lists 14 reasons why you will love a mac.
I did get a chuckle out of reason #6 - who would have thought that Apple would ever be bragging about Intel Inside ;-)
And #13 is also funny - no need to hunt for drivers when only 1% of the hardware out there works on a Mac!
May 02, 2006 at 10:20 AM in Apple, Windows | Permalink | Comments (0)
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