Category: Computers, Science & Technology

I loved EvokeTV… a way to see your TV listing and interact with them via a calendar. It was awesome! But now it is gone… unless they find a venture capitalist… will someone step up? I want my EvokeTV!

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Every month, where I work, we have a “Maintenence Weekend” in which we have to get all our “off-line” computer work done. This past weekend was our Maintenence Weekend! I was totally “geekified” all weekend and had ZERO time to do the Podcast. In fact, I had to move six Dell 1850 servers from one computer room to another, and get them all online and operating in production… among other things!

Sigh! However, worry not! I shall do the Podcast as soon as is humanly possible! (I don’t want anyone going into withdrawl!)

So… there you are using Linux… you are using “cat,” and “sort,” and “tail” happily! Then you move over to your Windows box, and, “Ack!” You get frustrated not having the same power to control your text files there!

Or, in scenario two, you WANT to be able to sort a text file, and eliminate duplicate lines while doing so. Sigh! What to do?

Get the TextUtils for Windows!

GNU TextUtils for Windows

Download the file called, “textutils-2.1-1.exe”, and click on it to install the GNU TextUtil for Windows utilities. Then, go to “Start -> Control Panel -> System and click on the “Advanced” tab. Click on the “Environment Variables” button at the bottom of that screen, and then highlight the “System Variable” called “path” and click on the “Edit” button. Add this string to the very end of the line that is there:

;C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin

Note the “;” (semi-colon) at the beginning of the string! Click “OK,” then “OK,” and then “OK.” Now, you can use the command below, for instance, to solve the second scenario I used an example above:

sort file.txt | uniq > newfile.txt

This will take the contents of “file.txt” and sort each line, then eliminate duplicate lines, and then output the new data to a file called “newfile.txt” … how’s that for cool and geeky!?!

Steve Gibson, on a special edition of his “Security Now!” Podcast, is spreading the word about two VERY serious Windows security issues. Check out his website for full details:

Two Serious New Windows Problems

One is a vulnerability in Microsoft’s Vector Markup Language that can allow remote code execution on your system! The other is for folks running ANY flavor of Windows 2000. This is a “bad” patch that Microsoft pushed out that effects any compressed files that are larger than 4 kilobytes, which may then be corrupted when you create or update those files. This serious “regression” error was introduced into last month’s (August 2006) security patches for Windows 2000 systems. The error can cause corruption of NTFS-compressed files on systems that have had Microsoft Security Update 920958 (MS06-049) applied.

These are both VERY bad problems! Be sure to take the measures that Steve recommends!

This is just too cool! It is so geeky I gotta get one!

Philips “Lumalive” Fabric

“Lumalive fabrics feature flexible arrays of colored light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that make it possible to create dynamic messages, graphics and constantly changing color surfaces — while the cloth itself remains soft and flexible. Philips Research is looking for partners to bring the textiles to market in the form of jackets, t-shirts, drapes, cushions and sofa covers. Lumalive fabrics only become obvious when they light up to display vivid colored patterns, logos, short text messages or even full-color animations. Fabrics like drapes, cushions or sofa coverings actually illuminate in order to enhance the observer’s mood and positively influence his or her behavior.” (From Dr. Joseph Mercola’s Blog)

Very neat stuff!

Your computer would be faster if it ran its data over light comparing to wires. So, let’s use light! That’s what Intel has done in conjunction with UC Santa Barbara. This was featured on NPR news yesterday.

Intel, UC Santa Barbara announce laser chip breakthrough

“Intel Corp. said Monday that researchers from the company and from the University of California, Santa Barbara, have jointly built the world’s first electrically powered hybrid silicon laser using standard silicon manufacturing processes. Santa Clara-based Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) said the development ‘addresses one of the last major barriers to producing low-cost, high-bandwidth silicon photonics devices for use inside and around future computers and data centers.’ Intel said researchers were able to combine light-emitting properties of indium phosphide with light-routing capabilities of silicon into a single hybrid chip. When voltage is applied, light generated in the idium phosphide enters the silicon waveguide to create a continuous laser beam that can be used to drive other silicon photonic devices. Intel said a laser based on silicon could drive wider use of photonics in computers because the cost can be greatly reduced by using high-volume silicon manufacturing techniques.”

Wanna try Vista RC1? Well, now according to PC Magazine, you can!

Windows Vista RC1 Now Downloadable By Anyone

“First, it went to a select group of technical beta testers. Then to those who had tested Beta 2. As of September 14, however, Windows Vista Release Candidate (RC) 1 is now available to anyone interested in testing the product. The bits can be downloaded from the Vista Get Ready site. Microsoft’s goal is to allow up to 5 million individuals, total, to play with this near-final test build. After RC1, there are no more public Vista builds coming – just an undetermined number of private ones before the product goes to manufacturing.”

Windows Vista Customer Preview Program—RC1 Update

Go to the link above, and download RC1… see what you think!

Occasionally, I am reminded of just how big a geek I am. I live in a truly Geek filled world, personally. My lovely wife, Belinda, was manager of the Database and Development Group at Ciba-Geigy (later Novartis, later Syngenta… they can’t make up their minds, I suppose) in the R&D Department. She was a world class geek back when they were cobbling together Macintoshs with actual hard drives (zowie!) to store huge (5 megs!) of data gathered in the field. These machines dialed in (at a blistering 300 – 1200 baud) to update databases on a VAX. This was cutting edge stuff in the early 80s! We met there, and “courted” by e-mail! It was VAX based All-In-1, but it was e-mail! We may not have met on the Internet… but it was as close as it could be back then!

My son is 14. He is a hard core (really hard core) gamer. He has his own web site called “GameMasters.biz”. He rocks!

My friends tend to all be computer geeks, and we talk about virtualization, LAMP, the latest virus attacks and e-mail scams, and when IPTV is going to go mainstream. Our “political discussions” tend to be about net neutrality, or the digital divide.

And then, sometimes, I talk to a “normal” person. Usually, it is when they bring thier computer to me and say, “It’s slow,” or, “It’s broke.” I patiently explain that it is probably overriden by spyware or viruses that THEY got when they went, with wild abandon, to the wrong website, or when they clicked on that e-mail attachment that I had been telling them for years not to click on. They blink their eyes like a deer in headlights and say, “Yeah, whatever… can you fix it?” “Yes,” I say, “I can fix it, but your DO understand that if you keep acting like an idiot and practicing ‘unsafe computing’ you will be back and pay me again to fix it, don’t you?” OK, so I don’t say THAT exactly… it is usually a milder version with the pretty much the same sentiment. But they just give me that look, like, “You really ARE a Geek, aren’t you?” And, they smile and say, “When can I pick it up?”

And so it goes. I suppose I should look at it as a blessing. Like big business and their “planned obsolescence,” I am guaranteed continued business because “the masses” will always be computer “stoopid!” But, the idealist in me keeps trying… and keeps educating, and continues to hope that one day a light bulb will appear over their heads and they will say, “Gee, Dr. Bill, maybe I will learn about how computers and the Internet actually work, and not do dumb things like click on e-mail attachments and visit evil web sites… yeah!” Sigh. Right.

OK, you may remember that I introduced you to Foxit Reader as an alternative to the huge, bloated, and slow Adobe PDF Reader as a “Geek Software of the Week.” Well, their 2.0 version is out, and it seems somehow even faster, cleaner and it is still gloriously FREE!

Foxit PDF Reader 2.0

You owe it to yourself to “bag” the Adobe “bloatware” version and move to this small, clean, modern PDF reader… go ahead, click the link!

If you are using Windows XP, and you have had some issue with your system (say, a virus that has been cleaned off, or spyware) and you want to be SURE that your PC file structure is “clean,” how would you do it? Well, here you go!

Open a Command Prompt window by clicking on “Start,” then “Run,” then type “cmd” in the run “box.”

In the command prompt screen type:

sfc /scannow

(Note the space after “sfc”)

It will prompt you for your original Windows CD.

It will then scan all the Windows files to assure that the files are intact and are the original versions. It will take a while!

There you go! enjoy!