Categories
Uncategorized

What I’ve read this week (through 011508)

Off to a quick lunch, but first a posting of some of the articles in my reading pile, courtesy of del.icio.us. Keep in mind that many of the descriptions are taken directly from the articles.

Macworld 2008 coverage (CNET News) – By CNET staff, 1/15/2008 — “Macworld 2008 is under way, and CNET’s fleet of editors is blogging the keynote, scouring the show floor, and digging up the best and most novel Apple announcements, gadgets, hardware, and software coming from Macworld 2008.”

More info on the Apple Storessaved by 25 other people

More info on Windows Vista Team Blog : Windows Vista Power Management

Live from Macworld 2008: Steve Jobs keynote – Engadgetsaved by 164 other people

Hardware hack: Silence Your Xbox 360 with a New Fan (lifehacker) – I’m not clear if such a mod will get you banned on Xbox Live, but here ExtremeTech walks through how to replace the stock fan unit on an this Xbox 360 (which they say “screams like a 747”) with a whisper quiet, $25 alternative. 

Related: Want to know how the Xbox 360 is assembled? Then see this slideshow on CNET News for a look at the insides of the new Xbox 360 Elite: this slide link includes a look at the fan location and mounting.

Mark my words, Sony may well regret its victory in the video disc war – Times Online – “Sony faces a paradox: the impending success of Blu-ray could be bad news for the company because it will distract it from the real task of developing digital download systems. Blu-ray might well turn out to be the worst thing that ever happened…

What’s Your Pick for the Best and Weirdest of C.E.S.? – Bits – Technology – New York Times Blog

HD DVDs Fall Like Dominoes – Bits – Technology – New York Times Blog – By Saul Hansell — Nothing has been announced, but Variety is reporting that the last two major studios backing HD DVD — NBC Universal and Paramount — are opening the door for a switch to Blu-ray.

DVD Movies With an iTunes Copy: Worth More? – Bits – Technology – New York Times Blog – More interestingly perhaps, the studios are hoping to create “premium” versions of DVDs that include a copy of the movie that can easily be put on an iPod (and presumably a laptop with iTunes or an Apple TV).

Melinda Gates goes public – Jan. 7, 2008 (Fortune) … about living with Bill, working with Warren Buffett, and giving away their billions. By Patricia Sellers, editor at large… saved by 13 other people

Screenshot Tour: Early Look at Office Live Workspace Beta – Office Live is, at the moment, only worth your time if you prefer to edit words, spreadsheets, and other documents in Microsoft’s Office products…. saved by 9 other people

Featured Windows Download: Automatically Remove Ads from Recorded TV with Lifextender – Free, open source Vista application and Media Center plugin Lifextender removes commercials from Windows Media Center-recorded TV shows, cutting the average 30 minute show down to around 22 minutes… saved by 35 other people

Microsoft enters the interactive TV market with DVR Anywhere – DMNews – “Microsoft Mediaroom Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and multimedia platform. With DVR Anywhere, viewers can watch recorded programs from multiple TVs in the home while simultaneously recording other shows.

RIAA chief says ripping okay, Sony BMG lawyer “misspoke” during Jammie Thomas trial – Engadget – Posted Jan 4th 2008 6:59PM by Nilay Patel

Newegg.com – Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – An additional HDD for your new HP Home Server EX470 or EX475

Conspicuous by its absence, Vista is a no-show at CES – Sharon Fisher and Scott M. Fulton, III — January 10, 2008 — One of the consumer electronics industry’s biggest brands has had an ever-diminishing presence at CES, and the trend continued this year. It’s Windows, which this year moved from the backseat…

Home Server Hacks: Upgrade the Memory in your HP EX470 or EX475 – HP claims that the RAM can not be upgraded, but that just isn’t so. The HP EX470/475 contains a single 512 MB stick of PC2 – 5300 667MHz memory.

The Gap In Google’s Defenses (Forbes.com) – Sramana Mitra 01.11.08 — “Google is powerful, with 64.5% of all U.S. searches (as of Oct. 27) and 79% of the click ad market. But is Google invincible? I’ve laid out Google’s strengths and weaknesses.”

FiOS tops satisfaction survey; worth moving for? (arstechnica) – In Consumer Reports, Verizon’s fiber optic FiOS service was rated best of breed, and the FiOS television service trumped all comers, including DirecTV, AT&T, Comcast, and Time Warner. By Nate Anderson, January 10, 2008

Analysis: Will streaming HD movies bypass Blu-ray? (betanews) – by Scott M. Fulton, III, January 10, 2008 — It may not be exactly possible for high-definition discs to pick up where their lofty goals of 2005 left off. Transmission technology has evolved very rapidly during that time…

New Year’s Resolutions for Web 2.0 (businessweek) – There will be lots to watch in 2008, as Web sites struggle to turn a profit. The fallout won’t be pretty, written by Sarah Lacy

Sony’s Blu-Ray Breakthrough businessweek – Jan 8, 2008 — Warner Bros.’ decision to back the format makes buying a PS3 less of a gamble for gamers—and promises licensing fees in the future by Kenji Hall

Oops, I Screwed Up My Negotiations (businessweek)  — January 10, 2008, — “Can I tell my boss of three months that I didn’t ask for enough money or the correct title when I agreed to take the job?” by Liz Ryan

Bringing Passion to Starbucks, Travelocity (businessweek) — Jan 9, 2008 — Two companies are trying to take employee engagement and customer service to new levels. Your small business can learn a lot from them, by Carmine Gallo

Five Mobile Trends for 2008 (businessweek)  Jan 9, 2008 – Among them: wireless carriers sharing networks and pushing data services, and the release of more multimedia devices like the iPhone, by Natasha Lomas

So You Want to Publish That Novel (businessweek) January 9, 2008 — Blurb lets you create any sort of book—even one with photos—for as little as $20, by Stephen H. Wildstrom

Kitchen Timesavers That Speed Up Dinner (lifehacker) – To help you plan, prep, and cook better food, I’ve put together some of my favorite food and kitchen hacks, from the nuts and bolts (like faster tomato de-seeding) to bigger organizational tips… saved by 301 other people

PCMag.com’s CES 2008 Photo Blog – News and Analysis by PC Magazine — PC Magazine’s slideshow of the sights and technology on display at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. by Kyle Monson, Lance Ulanoff, Cisco Cheng, Sascha Segan, Craig Ellison, Brian Heater, Dan Costa and Chloe Albanesius

The Bill Gates Exit Strategy BS – Columns by PC Magazine — The idea that Bill Gates is going to run that foundation of his full-time is a joke. by John C. Dvorak

Watch Full-Length TV Online with Fancast — Fancast goes “well beyond simple video streaming by integrating movies and other services into the site…” directing you ecommerce sites to buy a DVD, rentals or to buy tickets (if what you searched is still in theaters)… saved by 64 other people

Best Buy’s Anderson “Nervous” About US DTV Changeover : Dealerscope Today — A little over a year before analog television signals are turned off, the CEO of America’s largest CE retail chain admits that he is “very nervous” about the transition, especially the enormity of supplying customers with converter boxes.

Identity Theft Protection — By Internet Infrastructure Features Staff — A variety of services are available to consumers for identity protection and remediation, but the most effective solutions lie elsewhere. Even if you’re careful, you can still be a victim of identity theft.

Dell Unveils Curved Gaming Monitor — PCs — InformationWeek — The monitor has a resolution of 2,880 by 900 pixels, which is the equivalent of two 24-inch monitors. By Antone Gonsalves InformationWeek January 8, 2008 06:39 PM

Microsoft’s ‘Extender’ for Vista and HDTV reaches reality by Jacqueline Emigh, January 7, 2008 — Microsoft’s Extender for Windows Media Center isn’t altogether new. But the extender products announced at CES 2008 — from Samsung, HP, Linksys, and others — are a different kettle of fish due to their use of Vista…

Seat entertainment system crash on (Les’s space) “Yes, you read that right: I was on an airplane that crashed. Well, OK, the *whole* plane didn’t crash, just the Linux based seatback entertainment system. (But I had you going for an instant, didn’t I??)”

PC Magazine’s Show Coverage of CES 2008 – News, Reviews, Gadgets and more from International CES 2008

Canon’s Nine New SD Camcorders Smack Sony (PC Magazine) — Canon added to its camcorder line today with the announcement of 9 more SD offerings. Broken up into 3 categories, flash drives, and MiniDV, Canon has updated it own line of recorders and fired back at Sony’s 16 new offerings they announced yesterday.

Tags: misc, articles, what I read.

Categories
Uncategorized

Forget Y2K, DST and Time Zones: this weekend, it’s the Y2.038K bug

This weekend will mark another interesting milestone in Time and Date, oone that actually doesn’t occur for thirty more years, in 2038.  

Also known as the ‘Friday the 13th’ bug, the 2038 issue is due to the way 32-bit systems note time in seconds rather than by an actual coded date.  The full impact will be felt on January 19, 2038, when systems many not work accurately, or even crash.  The initial wave of the challenge would likely impact customers in the financial sector, particularly those with (pardon the pun) an interest in long term products (mortgages, investments, bonds) with maturity dates post Jan 19, 2038.  But those with longer maturity instruments would’ve seen an impact years ago.

As this involves dates and times, Wyn asked today about this impact, as this smacked of an issue similar to what we saw last year with the various DST and time zone changes around the world… 


“I have not found too much on this and I am not sure if anything is know or being done to avoid the problem…”


Good question.  I asked several of our product groups if any of our products will be impacted by the date.

A nod of thanks to Geoff for noting this MSDN article from way back in 1998, “All Ready for 2000 and the Euro? What About 2038?” (September 7, 1998).  If Y2K did anything for the industry, it was to spur an analysis of any date and time issues that could impact the operating system and software products…



First it was Y2K. Then the Euro conversion. And now, as if the Y2K and Euro problems weren’t bad enough, there’s the year 2038 bug. Dr. GUI got a letter from Mahmoud Saleh alerting him (reminding him, actually) of a similar problem that will face C and C++ programmers in coming years: we can call it the Y2.038K bug.

The problem stems from the common definition of the time_t as an integer containing the number of seconds since midnight, January 1, 1970. Most C/C++ runtime libraries define time_t as a long int. On most systems, long int is 32 bits, which means that we’ve got a range of 2^31-1 (2,147,483,647) seconds—until sometime on January 18, 2038. (Assuming Dr. GUI’s Windows CE Palm-size PC has it right, that’s a Monday. Figures.) When the clock rolls over, it’ll be back to the ’70s for everyone. Get your leisure suits ready ‘cuz you’ll be catching Boogie Fever and Nixon will be President again. Four more years indeed!

Anything that uses time_t is also in trouble. That includes the time_b structure (not commonly used, anyway) and, very unfortunately, the MFC CTime class. Code that uses time_t, directly or indirectly, will need to be changed sometime before you start dealing with dates after 1/18/2038. (Note that if your program deals with, say, 40-year bonds, you’re in trouble today.)


As Geoff pointed out, SYSTEMTIME has no problems and can go until the year 30,827, and FILETIME, a 64-bit integer (two DWORDs representing LOW and HIGH values) since January 1, 1601 (Julian).  It too can represent a 30,000 (or 60,000 unsigned) year interval.  From the MSDN article:


…the Win32 SYSTEMTIME structure… stores the year part of the date as a 16-bit integer, and the Win32 FILETIME structure, which stores the date as the number of 100-nanosecond intervals since 1601. The problem is that neither of these structures have many supporting functions.

Better yet is to use the automation DATE object. DATE is typedef’ed as double, so there are 53 bits of precision—enough for your program’s lifetime. The whole part of the double number represents the number of days since midnight, December 30, 1899. (Negative numbers are before 12/30/1899.) The absolute value of the fractional part represents the time in the day: midnight is zero, noon is 0.5, etc. You can convert the automation DATE objects to other formats with various variant API functions.


Overall, the advice is that if you have custom applications you might want to check to see if they are using C/C++ time_t, which will run out in 2038.  Just as I noted previously on how Windows handles historical events, you might want to check any custom or ‘home-grown’ line of business applications that use time_t.  Looking quickly at Windows, the core OS appears to run just fine with dates far into the future. 

I will have to check one of my old Apple systems at home running (quite reliably, I might add) System 9, which according to Apple, is good up until February 6, 2040; the current Mac OS up until 29,940… Windows will be accurate for an additional 887 years after the latest Mac release fails, but I’m sure Apple will have an update long before 29,940 rolls around. 😉 

(Interesting factoid that stuck in my mind: in the H. G. Wells classic novella, The Time Machine, the hero of the story travels to the year 802,701 A.D.  I’m hopeful in that future, the downfall of mankind will have nothing to do with the failure of the modern OS to cope with dates past the 301st century.)

For more information, please see these articles courtesy of a quick MSDN search

Tags: Apple, Microsoft, Vista, Windows, Time, 2038.

Categories
Uncategorized

Of interest: Apple at MacWorld: MacBook Air with a solid-state drive laptop, update to Apple TV and iTunes

A quick public service announcement: if you haven’t backed up your Windows Vista PC recently, now’s a good time…

Now, just before lunch and after navigating icy streets to work (this is Redmond, not Fargo…) I have a quick update from NPR on the latest announcements at MacWorld… as well as more stories from Apple today….

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the model Tuesday at the Macworld Expo conference in San Francisco, the same event that brought the announcement of the iPhone last year.

Also on the way from Apple are two new services: the ability to rent downloadable feature films via Apple TV, and Time Capsule, a backup system that provides automatic safety versions of any of the company’s computers running on a wireless network.

The company’s popular iPhone also got a freshened suite of software, most notably a new messaging system and improved mapping ability. Jobs’ presentation included a slideshow that showed Apple with nearly 20 percent of the U.S. smartphone market.

The new MacBook Air starts out at SRP US$1,799, and has a 13″ LED-backlit screen with a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, standard 80GB hard drive and 2GB of memory. For a little more than three grand, the Air is available with a faster 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 64GB solid-state flash drive (“SSD”).  Until recently, the award for thinnest laptop went to Intel for the Intel Mobile Metro Notebook (‘tho that was a concept design).  Also worth noting are the Dell XPS M1330 and Toshiba Portege R500 series, the thinnest notebooks with integrated optical disk drives… plus the Portege R500 also offers a configuration that includes 2GB of memory and a 64GB SSD in place of the hard disc.

My favourite innovation announced by Apple is Remote Disc, allowing the Air notebook to access the CD or DVD drive of a nearby Mac or Windows PC. 

[added 011608]:  I like the concept of expanding iTunes (which I don’t use) to offer movie rentals, but I prefer discs by mail (until we find a subscription package available a la what Netflix announced around unlimited streaming (as noted here at Computerworld)…

January 14, 2008 (Computerworld) — Beginning today, Netflix Inc. subscribers who have unlimited DVD rental plans will be able to stream as many movies and television shows as they want online for no additional charge, the online DVD rental company said. Netflix said its subscribers will have access to its library of more than 6,000 movies and TV episodes.

Also interesting but not widely reported yet was Apple’s announcement today with Twentieth Century Fox of Digital Copy for iTunes (as noted in these links), providing “customers who purchase a DVD with an additional Digital Copy of the movie.”  The first DVD to make a debut with this feature is the Family Guy “Star Wars” parody, “Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest,” released today.

Tags: Apple, MacBook Air, Macworld, Microsoft, Vista, Windows.

Categories
Uncategorized

Windows Vista RC1 brings improved performance, but consider spring cleaning your PC

(Note: info on the release version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is available here. This article discusses whether or not you should install a service pack directly from the Microsoft Download Center or wait for installation via Microsoft Windows Update.)


OK, lots of feedback (generally positive) from folks on my post from yesterday, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh is publicly available. Should you install it- Depends.  I guess that yesterday’s game in Green Bay had folks in a bad mood…


One of the reasons to install RC1 will be the improved performance.  I’ve found this first hand, particularly when using Vista Sleep (S3 mode) and Hibernate (S4).  With RC1, I have moved to use Sleep (S3) almost exclusively for my office workstations and notebooks, as well as for machines at home. 


One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard from customers is the amount of time it takes to recover from S4 and even from S3 in Vista RTM.  This combined with some overall sluggishness in machine performance which people found with Vista that they didn’t see on their trusty Windows XP SP2 system (particularly in upgrade scenarios).


Writer James Fallows posted this week that Kenneth Rhee is apparently considering a move back to the Mac after moving to Vista, due in part to a slow recovery from hibernation:


…Just the other day I had my MacBook Pro packed for a trip, and I had to do something quick at the last minute before we departed, and I turned on my hibernated (not sleep mode) Thinkpad check on one email quickly.

Believe or not it took the Vista laptop 5 minutes to wake up and restore for me to get the work. My MacBook Pro boots cold much faster than this! In the meantime, my wife was waiting for me to come down from my study and getting anxious

Ouch.


Serendipitously enough, we were looking at this very customer scenario this week at the office, following a fresh install of the latest Vista service pack, SP1.  The biggest challenge we’ve had on my son’s notebook is the amount of additional software installed by the manufacturer.  In Max’s his view (and mine) the additional applications and add-ons seem to hit the performance of the new desktop replacement machine, making it “really slow” in his words. 


I have found (as have many others) that uninstalling various pre-installed software can improve performance.  In more drastic situations, reinstalling the OS with a clean boot makes for an improved customer experience (assuming that the OEM makes it easy for you to find all the needed drivers, add-on software and utilities). 


Here’s the cautionary note: Before you take such a drastic measure as the latter, I first recommend that you delete what appears to be add-on software that loads on boots and items you don’t need that are littering your Windows Vista taskbar.  You can accomplish this by uninstalling software using the Programs and Features control panel in Windows Vista, or by using the uninstaller included with the application or service.


So I took the management challenge after my boss waded through a clean install on his new notebook, and reinstalled the Vista OS complete with the new service pack on to a stock Dell Inspiron 600m laptop (nothing special, two year old machine).  Again, make sure that you have all the basic drivers for your machine saved on a CD or USB memory stick, just in case.  Kudos to Dell and HP for making this a painless process on their customer service web sites.


My unscientific findings: with a clean install on an old laptop, it takes only 20 seconds to recover from Hibernate, and less than five seconds to recover from Sleep.  A DVD inserted in the drive is playing in less than 20 seconds. 


And this post by Megan McArdle at The Atlantic, who uses a Mac “because The Atlantic uses Macs.”



I appear to be the only person in the known universe who did not have a problem with Vista. My Sony Vista laptop was fast, woke up out of sleep mode just fine, and if I had any complaint it was with the crap Sony loaded on it, not the OS itself. Vista itself was lovely, though I turned off the damn security alerts.


Here’s more info on improving PC performance by removing pre-installed items:



Tags: performance, tips, Windows Vista, notebook, hardware, Dell, HP, customer experience.


Delicious Bookmark this on Delicious Bookmark and Share

Categories
Uncategorized

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh is publicly available. Should you install it? Depends.

(Note: info on the release version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is available here. This article discusses whether or not you should install a service pack directly from the Microsoft Download Center or wait for installation via Microsoft Windows Update.)


 


As Steve notes, the latest Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh is publicly available.


We’ve installed the RC on all PCs at home (and of course, at the office 😉 and found that it provides greater stability, improved reliability with support for more devices, and more.


But should you install it?


That depends. 


If you’re evaluating Vista for corporate or enterprise deployments, a computer enthusiast who likes taking on the latest software and technology, or are comfortable with release candidate software, then yes, by all means.  (Note that this is not for production environments – and always make a back up.)  Assuming that you are a regular MSDN reader, than this RC’s for you to evaluate and put through it’s paces.  We’ve been using the release candidates with great success at home and at work, and found it to be solid.


But… If you are a consumer who would rather that Windows Update handle all the heavy lifting for applying the latest updates and patches, then you should carefully consider installing a release candidate package. Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh is pre-release software and as noted on the download page “will change before the final release.”



Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh is for individuals, organizations, and technical enthusiasts who are comfortable evaluating pre-release software and is provided for testing purposes only. Microsoft does not recommend installing this software on primary or mission critical systems. Microsoft recommends that you have a backup of your data prior to installing any pre-release software.


Also note that this RC is time-limited software and will not work after June 30, 2008, requiring it to be uninstalled before it turns into a pumpkin.


Delicious Bookmark this on Delicious Bookmark and Share