Friday, April 28, 2006

Seems it was a hoax

I was too quick to post before.
A little research would have shown this to be fake. (link to www.helpwinthisbet.com may not work if the site is down)
The register does an expose through one of their readers.


Posted by: Jethro | 11:56 PM |

Webpage design for counter hits

This webpage is a corker.
Ok the concept is a little lame but it does show the power of viral networking.
The counter on the bottom of this page is growing in leaps and bounds. One of my clients mentioned that the hits had grown by 125,000 this morning. When I posted this it was at 1,397,298.
Help this bloke get 2,000,000 hits on his website to win a bet with his girlfriend.


Posted by: Jethro | 8:25 AM |

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Free copies of Microsoft Office Professional

From Microsoft's Website comes this great offer. Register for free hints and tips and be in the draw for a free copy of Office 2003.

We're giving away 100 copies of Microsoft Office Professional
Edition 2003 plus Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 every week.
Register now and you could win.
Tips & Tricks Main
Tips


The Tips & Tricks on-demand webcasts are engaging tutorials filled with easy-to-learn pointers, tactics, and shortcuts for the programs you rely on every day. Discover helpful ways to save time while using:
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
• Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
• Microsoft Office Excel 2003
• Microsoft Office Word 2003
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2003

You'll learn faster ways to find a lost e-mail, set up a meeting, update a spreadsheet, create a team Web site, and much more. And with Tips & Tricks on-demand webcasts, you can watch whenever you want.


Posted by: Jamie Rochfort | 8:57 PM |

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

The Tech Tips Lingerie Post

Sometimes even geeks have to take a break from their PC's. Especially if it is your wife or girfriend demanding the break then you can do the right thing and go find them some great lingerie on the web.

Here are some of the sites I use to purchase lingerie for my wife - feel free to check them out! (Note I have grouped them to how we like them - you may have a different opinion!)

Top Shelf
Trashy Lingerie - not what the name says this is sophisticated hollywood starlet stuff
Bras N Things (Australian)
Dreamy (Australian)
Dressed 2 Play
FineLines (Australian)
Indulge Fashion (Australian)
Agent Provocateur
Sublime Bikinis
Wicked Weasel (Australian)
Zeebra Intimates (Australian)

Mid Range
Bella Forma (Australian)
Bra Bar (Australian)
Bare Necessities
Flirty Lingerie
Neiman Marcus
Sabi (Australian)
Sandra Dee (Australian)
Sharron Leslie Designs
Zodee (Australian)

Budget
Ace of Hearts Lingerie (Australian)
Kims Australian Lingerie Boutique (Australian)
Black Lace Lingerie (Australian)
Cotton Underwear
Fig Leaves

Adult shop - includes lingerie - may not be work safe
Cheeky (Australian)
Be Daring (Australian)
Wild Secrets (Australian)


Posted by: Jethro | 11:12 PM |

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

How to put your band aid on so it stays on all day

From the catgory of weird Japanese tech tip videos comes this beauty.
How to put your band aid on so it stays on all day

(Courtesy of J-Walk)


Posted by: Jethro | 4:41 PM |

Friday, April 14, 2006

Joytech AV Control Centre 240 Series


I bought one of these little beasties last week.
It is a fantastic addition to my media centre.
We no longer have a plethora of cables that need to be unplugged and reconnected and altered in order to watch TV, DVD's or Videos, Digital TV or listen to the radio etc.
Now we have a nicely cable tied group of cables stashed quietly away behind the equipment cabinet with no need to unplug optical audio fibre optic cables or video cables in order to watch something different. It is so easy to use the kids can operate it very simply as well.

Features:
# Connect up to seven AV sources to your TV
# Control the sound and picture with electronic switching and Remote Control.
# Multiple Input Channels
# Connections for HDTV ready Component Video, Digital Optical, Ethernet, S-Video and Composite AV.
# Output Channel for connection to your TV
# Connections for HDTV ready Component Video, Digital Optical, Ethernet, S-Video, Composite AV and RF.
# Programmable Display
# Backlit LCD shows the name of each input Channel for simple navigation.
# Advanced Signal Technology
# Regulates the Output Channel and automatically compensates for weak signals.

Back picture - click for larger image.


Posted by: Jethro | 2:23 PM |

D-Link DSM-320 Media Player


I bought the D-Link DSM-320 Media Player the other day.

The DSM-320 is a complete digital entertainment center. Enjoy your music, video and photos when and where you want it—in your living room, bedroom, den, or anywhere you have a TV. Once connected to your home network, the DSM-320 accesses PC stored media content to play digital music on your surround sound system, watch your home movies and display a slideshow of your photos all on your big screen TV.
I found few problems installing it. I have a D-Link AirPlus™ G DI-524 Wireless Router which I have used to create a wireless netowrk here. The Medial Player found the network and connected effortlessly.

The media player server software was not quite so intuitive however.
There were a few little things that were not apparent so I had several goes at setting it up before getting it right.

First off the software only runs when the PC is logged in, not just turned on. I installed it on my SBS server and then logged out. While I was logged in the software was running and the Media Player picked up the server and instantly found all the shared files. However as soon as I logged off the server the Media Player could not find the server. I have compromised on this for now by logging in remotely to the server and then killing the login session while leaving myself logged in.

Second the Media Player can only connect to one server at a time. We have media files spread across several machines on our network here. The SBS server holds all the music, photos and some home video. My PC has a hard drive with movie files on it and one of the kids PC's has a folder with all the kids cartoons and kids movies. So my first attempt at setting up media servers on each of these machines, although succesful, was aborted because the media player could only connect to one at a time. I wanted to make it as simple as possible for the family to navigate. The solution was to map all these drives onto the SBS server, and then share them from there.

Finally I discovered that my folder structure (while fine for a PC) is possibly not the best for a media server. Having lots of folders isn't the easiest way to navigate when the player lets you only navigate through a page of 8 folders at a time.

I will probably end up buying a couple of 250Gb drives and mirroring them in a raid array on one PC and setting the server up on that, and then moving everything to it.

In terms of the operation of the media player it works almost flawlessly. Certainly I had no problems when I tried the wired network connection. We have noticed the odd freeze of both music and video when running wirelessly. Our media room is 20 metres away from the closest network connection (also the Wireless Router) - and about 35 metres in cable run distance so we prefer the wireless connection.

The setup menu is well laid out and fairly intuitive. System is where you find the options for the media server, which was possibly poorly named. However everything else is good. You can change aspect ratio and video and audio outputs. Unfortunately you can't do this on the fly from within media (eg pause a movie and change aspect ratio) but its a simple matter to exit the movie, go back to the main menu and change the setting then go back and restart the movie.
Sound and video is great and upscaling for low resolution material onto the big screen is great. I haven't tried it with the projector yet but I will later.
We are running the optical audio out and the sound is very clear. It is now showing up my home cinema 5.1 surround system. It is due to be replaced in September with some better HiFi gear.

I rate this machine highly and a great addition to any HiFi or home theatre system where the user has a lot of media on the PC that they would like to be able to see on their TV, big or small screen. It could just as easily be relocated to the bedroom temorarily to watch a movie in bed. Our little bedroom TV connected easily although only composite audio and video connections the image was crisp and the sound clear.


Posted by: Jethro | 1:46 PM |

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Shavlik and Microsoft Updates

Update to Shavlik NetChk(TM) Protect 5.6 before Patch Day – It’s an easy upgrade and gives you access to our latest features. Click here for more information at http://www.shavlik.com/netchk-protect.aspx

Patch Tuesday is tomorrow and Microsoft has indicated they plan to release five security bulletins - at least one of which is rated Critical. Tomorrow, Shavlik will be testing each of the security patches and will release updated patch XML files when completed. (To receive immediate notification of release of new XML files, please sign up for the Shavlik XML Announcement mailing list: http://www.shavlik.com/support/xmlsubscribe.aspx)

Microsoft expects to release a cumulative update for Internet Explorer (IE) that corrects the "CreateTextRange" security vulnerability. This update also includes a change to the manner in which IE invokes ActiveX controls. Microsoft is warning customers that this change may impact application compatibility with some third party and custom web pages and applications.

In order to give an appropriate period of time for customers to test and implement this change in behavior, Microsoft has announced that they will be releasing a 'compatibility patch' that will disable the ActiveX changes that are scheduled to be included in the upcoming IE update. Shavlik is planning to support this 'compatibility patch' and will make it available to customers as a 'non security' patch in the Shavlik HFNetChkPro(TM) and Shavlik NetChk Protect product lines.


UPGRADE TO SHAVLIK NETCHK PROTECT VERSION 5.6 PRIOR TO PATCH DAY

Shavlik has also released an update for customers running Shavlik HFNetChkPro 5 and Shavlik NetChk Protect. The new 5.6 version includes many features and enhancements, including a client-side, real-time active protection option for complete Spyware remediation. Information about the changes in version 5.6, plus methods to obtain version 5.6 are listed below. Shavlik recommends upgrading to version 5.6 prior to this month's Microsoft patch release.


HOW TO OBTAIN Shavlik NetChk Protect 5.6
----
Existing customers: - There are two options to upgrade:

1) You may click the 'autoupdate' link in the top left corner of the application. This will update your console to the latest version. You may be required to close and restart the application after the update is complete, or

2) You may download the installation package from the Shavlik website and install the new version directly on top of the old version. Shavlik Download Center: http://www.shavlik.com/downloads.aspx

New or Trial Customers: Download a trial version of Shavlik NetChk Protect and receive all the benefits of patch and spyware management in a single console. The trial version will allow you to manage 10 systems for 30 days. If you decide to purchase the product, there is no need to re-install. Simply enter your purchased license key into the application to receive all the benefits of being a Shavlik customer. Shavlik Download Center: http://www.shavlik.com/pDownloadForm4.aspx?productid=46

View the full list of new features and enhancements in version 5.6 at: http://www.shavlik.com/support/updates_hf5.aspx

----


Get Patched, Stay Secure and Never Miss a Beat.

The Shavlik Team
(800) 690-6911
info@shavlik.com


Posted by: Jethro | 7:11 AM |

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Play with George

Click and drag George Bush's body around this excellent website!


Posted by: Jethro | 10:06 AM |