tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66150877313362594082024-02-19T00:55:34.054-08:00SolarCurve's House of FlampSolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-37906641718761841282014-03-31T11:42:00.001-07:002014-03-31T12:42:07.800-07:00Azure Outage RecoveryWe use Microsoft Azure for our Integration and UAT environments for a variety of reasons. We've recently become struck with the issue of updates to the host servers resulting in the VM's on that host becoming unavailable. Most of the time this is an outage that lasts around 20 minutes but sometimes, the servers don't come back online and end up stuck in a "starting" state.<br />
<br />
When they are stuck like this you can't do anything with them in the management portal so your only option is to try and wait it out or get in via the Azure Powershell command line. You can read on how to get started with that <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/articles/install-configure-powershell/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Once you've done that you can now get started. If you're like us, you might have multiple subscriptions and chances are, the default one won't be the one that has the VM that is being problematic.<br />
<br />
Show your list of VM's to validate you're in the right subscription<br />
<br />
<i> > get-azurevm</i><br />
<br />
If you need to change your subscription run the command below.<br />
<br />
<i> > Select-AzureSubscription -SubscriptionName "Name of Subscription here"</i><br />
<br />
From there it's pretty simple to just<br />
<br />
<i> > Stop-AzureVM -Name NameofVM -ServiceName -NameofService -Force</i><br />
<br />
It will take up to 30 seconds and then come back and tell you it succeeded. From there you can go into the portal and refresh and then start it manually. Alternatively you can start it with the command Start-AzureVM but I recommend doing it in the portal for the piece of mind that you see it stop and then your starting it by hand. My experience has shown that this can take up to 20 minutes to get the VM back online.<br />
<br />
I hope that this is helpful to anyone else.SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-83141799366094490432012-01-25T06:36:00.000-08:002012-01-25T06:37:22.812-08:00Nerding Out: File system issuesI've been chasing down an issue where my backup software (<a href="http://www.vembu.com/">Vembu Storegrid</a>, who provides terrific support) would hang and become unresponsive. Their support team logged in and helped me figure out that part of the disk appears to become inresponsive in high IO (Reading and writing from the disk) situations like when doing backups. They suggested running a repair.<br />
<br />
So I logged in and wanted to shut down things and unmount the drive to prevent corruption.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">(I check to see the device name I want to unmount /data or /dev/sdb1)</span><br />
<br />
[root@sys-util-1 /]# df -h<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">/dev/sda2 68G 45G 21G 69% /</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">tmpfs 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /dev/shm</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">/dev/sdb1 2.8T 2.6T 195G 94% /data</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">(Now I try and unmount it, but it's showing as busy)</span></span><br />
[root@sys-util-1 /]# umount /data<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">umount: /data: device is busy</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">umount: /data: device is busy</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">(So now I try and force unmount it with no luck)</span></div>
<div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# umount -f /data</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">umount2: Device or resource busy</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">umount: /data: device is busy</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">umount2: Device or resource busy</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">umount: /data: device is busy</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">(Next I ran an "lazy" unmount which means to unmount at the next moment it's not in use)</span></div>
<div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# umount -l /data</div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# df -h</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">/dev/sda2 68G 45G 21G 69% /</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">tmpfs 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /dev/shm</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">(Now I see that the device is unmounted and I wanted to run the repair but it's failing with the error below)</span></span></div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# xfs_repair /dev/sdb1</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">xfs_repair: /dev/sdb1 contains a mounted filesystem</span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">fatal error -- couldn't initialize XFS library</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">(I decided to try a basic check first instead but the result was a fail as well)</span></div>
<div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# xfs_check /dev/sdb1</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">xfs_check: /dev/sdb1 contains a mounted and writable filesystem</span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">fatal error -- couldn't initialize XFS library</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">(So I mounted /data back up again and ran the fuser command to find out which applications were trying to hold open connections to the drive and then I killed them and confirmed that they went peacefully)</span></div>
<div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# mount /data</div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# fuser -vm /dev/sdb1</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> USER PID ACCESS COMMAND</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">/dev/sdb1: root 4567 f.... nautilus</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> root 4590 f.... trashapplet</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> root 4890 ..c.. bash</span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# kill 4567</div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# kill 4590</div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# kill 4890</div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# fuser -vm /dev/sdb1</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">(Next I unmounted the drive again and ran the repair. We are in business.)</span></div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# umount /data</div>
</div>
<div>
[root@sys-util-1 /]# xfs_repair /dev/sdb1</div>
<div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Phase 1 - find and verify superblock...</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Phase 2 - using internal log</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - zero log...</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - scan filesystem freespace and inode maps...</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - found root inode chunk</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Phase 3 - for each AG...</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - scan and clear agi unlinked lists...</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - process known inodes and perform inode discovery...</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - agno = 0</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - agno = 1</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - agno = 2</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - agno = 3</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - agno = 4</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - agno = 5</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> - agno = 6</span></div>
</div>
<div>
I won't bother you with the rest but after googling around I didn't find anyone that had clearly laid out how to deal with these errors. I wanted to put something good out in the universe to hopefully help some others. </div>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-3370709292380875982011-10-25T17:44:00.000-07:002011-10-25T17:49:08.753-07:00Battlefail!I love first person shooter games. They were my real gateway drug into gaming and I can't resist a good session of left clicking on face to get stress out. I played and loved <a href="http://www.battlefield.ea.com/battlefield/bf2/">Battlefield 2</a> so when <a href="http://www.battlefield.com/battlefield3">Battlefield 3</a> was announced, I was pumped. The <a href="http://www.battlefield.com/battlefield3/videos/bf3-launch-trailer">launch trailer</a> looked amazing and I couldn't wait especially because I have the <a href="http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-main.html">Nvidia NVision 3D</a> glasses and a great <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009222">Acer GD245HQ</a> 3D Monitor to play it in.<br />
<br />
I pre-ordered through the new <a href="http://www.origin.com/us/about">EA Origin</a> system so I could get some perks, so I waited. The release was scheduled at 2am on October 25th, 2011. To my surprise, I received an email that it would be released a day early, on that day. I tried to no avail and it turned out that I had to still wait till midnight eastern time zone. No biggy....<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuOiTcl3gNIe92LiHuttadv_BIzkM7D1EPg_Ff0gSsq4wc6qPadP7PSBDZaP9-69sGvEnpZT5y8AR2yj3a8QsviETY_u3VV3L6xcbvVXX1INfBYmOfBciYeHlq55u8DGEjXtACC4_qq-c/s1600/Launched+Early.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuOiTcl3gNIe92LiHuttadv_BIzkM7D1EPg_Ff0gSsq4wc6qPadP7PSBDZaP9-69sGvEnpZT5y8AR2yj3a8QsviETY_u3VV3L6xcbvVXX1INfBYmOfBciYeHlq55u8DGEjXtACC4_qq-c/s320/Launched+Early.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So, the time comes, and the irony all sets in. I've got Origin which is similar to the awesome <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/">Steam engine</a> for managing games, licenses, purchases, accounts, etc. This was a familiar concept to have an app to manage that, and then the app for the game itself. Here is where it gets funky. I double click to play right? Well it kicked up another app that had to validate that the time to play had been reached before it would unlock it. Now we are at 3 apps.<br />
<br />
So it was now the official release time and that app went away and my web browser launched to the "<a href="http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/">Battlelog</a>" page. I closed it thinking that it was weird but nothing happened. So I waited a few, then told Origin to go again. Again Firefox pulled up the Battlelog site. Confused, I start reading. It turns out that I have to now install an ActiveX plugin to use the site. Make that now 4 apps including my browser + Active X = 5 applications to play a game.<br />
<br />
After doing this and trying to get into multi-player (because I like to left-click on real peoples faces) I just get a prompt that spins saying it's trying to match-make. After about 10 minutes of waiting, I gave up and went into the campaign mode. This works like a champ from my browser, through my Active X plugin, to Origin to validate my license, to start the game.<br />
<br />
The game content is amazing, beautiful, and impressive. I have fun for about 20 minutes in breath-taking terrific 3D and decided to try and play online again. This time, it works and I'm off to play. Again, the physics, graphics, and gameplay are terrific. I enjoy myself for another 20 minutes and then go to bed. Keep in mind, at this point it's about 12:10am central time and I'm a grown man of the average gamer age who has a job and real life responsibilities and needs to be professional. I can't just drag in there and half-ass it all day.<br />
<br />
The day goes by and I get home, feed the kids, clean, and do all my grown up duties. It's now 7pm and I'm thinking I'll get in half an hour or so of gaming before I catch back up on email and all the other things I have to do. I'm assuming I'm pretty normal in this regard. Below is a screenshot of what I was greeted with upon trying to launch for the first time.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9iIcdpU7NKzzGHNqlKRZpM_OXDS68n68PFqAh4tK1R6F3aLvIK5FbE3_EwqFDSNq-0jBeDATujs-OsNpYiQ-Mr8HCQHw695lteZnRxRpnIbyOMzfJ746qE3wSSvNSdUId3ax8LNb3UJM/s1600/Battlefail_login.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9iIcdpU7NKzzGHNqlKRZpM_OXDS68n68PFqAh4tK1R6F3aLvIK5FbE3_EwqFDSNq-0jBeDATujs-OsNpYiQ-Mr8HCQHw695lteZnRxRpnIbyOMzfJ746qE3wSSvNSdUId3ax8LNb3UJM/s320/Battlefail_login.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Ummm, excuse me? I just tried to play for the first time since I logged out and went to bed last night. This is a situation where a business it not aligned. The game is great, but the various silo's and business units apparently didn't work together very well to implement all of this. I like the ideas, but 5 different applications to play a game is a mess. You have the content and game creators, then the licensing people with Origin, then you have the marketing and social people working on the web interface.<br />
<br />
I'm on a PC but I'm following dozens of others on the other platforms who can't play and are just as pissed about the Battlefail launch. With an open beta for all the pre-paid users, a timed release schedule and launch, you would think that this would be smoother. It's a great idea of how they are trying to bring in all the channels but it's a #battlefail in execution.<br />
<br />
Those who know me know that I'm a very forgiving person, and I don't like to complain. I'm not even pissed but this is something that I had to point out as a very poor execution. I love competition and in that spirit, I don't even mind having to login to something other than steam for my games. You gave me a great way to import my friends through Facebook connect, etc. Coke wouldn't be Coke without Pepsi, but don't make us go through 5 layers of applications just to play our game and get access to the content we just paid $59.99 for.<br />
<br />
Now I'm off to figure out how to get my account unlocked so I can left click on some face. :)SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-83687883535477722032011-10-21T18:39:00.000-07:002011-10-22T07:18:16.915-07:00SSD Hard Drive Benchmarking Testing and Tuning - Part II<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">So, it's been a whole 30 minutes since I published my last blog and I already have the answers I was seeking. As many of you fellow bloggers know, the act of writing something down, thinking it through, and revisiting it even a few minutes later grants great clarity. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">I had the idea after posting and tweeting that the bus speed of the SATA 3 controller card might not be enough. The market on Amazon and NewEgg is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">littered</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> with controllers that are PCI Express 1x. I started looking at posts, and speeds on this port and sure enough, that is what my new drive was topping out at. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">on board</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> SATA 2 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">controller</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> didn't have that limitation so it was able to go faster. My options are to find a controller card that is more than 1x so it has more bandwidth or to update my motherboard to one that has SATA 3 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">on board</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">. If I'm going to do that, I might as well upgrade everything. Given that I'm a every three years upgrade kind of guy, I'm going to sit tight, live it with it, and wait until this time next year. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">Standards are always changing and technology is always evolving. I'm patient enough with my money to know that I'll have many more options and the costs will be cheaper if I wait. For now, I'm going to appreciate my disk score in WEI going from 5.9 to 7.8. That is after all a pretty huge leap. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">I went down the road of reviewing how many slots my motherboard has and while there are three of the PCI Express 2.0 slots, it can either work in the mode of 16x16x0, 16x0x16 (My configuration), or 16x8x8. This means that if I wanted to tap into that third slot, I'd hurt my video card performance. While I don't game on all for of my monitors at once, I do want to keep them all optimal as I do occasionally flip on SLI and turn on 3D. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">The cards that I could put into my machine where in the price range of over $200 and up to $800. That is just too much even for this nerd and enthusiast. I wish I had better news to report but it is, what it is. I'm pretty happy but in reality, I could have save about 30 bucks getting the normal version and not worrying about GT. I wish that the drive manufacturers would release more real work information but I also understand why they wouldn't. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">As a side note, I'll be honest and say that I didn't know that the total bandwidth among the PCI Express 2.0 ports was limited and you couldn't do 16x per port. I had an eSata controller card plugged into my middle one which was robbing one of my video cards and keeping it at 8x instead of the full 16x it should have been. I swapped that into the 1x slot that I vacated by ganking the SATA 3.0 card to keep it at max. I see no use in the SATA 3.0 card if the 2.0 has more bandwidth and I have the available slots. I'm sure you would agree. </span>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-13020490519748738072011-10-21T17:49:00.000-07:002011-10-21T17:51:11.091-07:00SSD Hard Drive Benchmarking Testing and Tuning - Part I<div class="MsoNormal">To many people, I’m just a nerd and most of them don’t know what an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSD">SSD</a> drive is and why they are taking over. In short, Solid State Drives are a much faster technology for hard drives that is more expensive but also smaller. There are no moving parts and are used in many portable devices such as iPods and in smart phones and tablets. Throughout this article, I’ve put links to key terms in case you want to learn more. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Starting out with my old <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220533">Patriot Torqx 60GB</a> drive, my <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-experience-index">Windows Experience Index</a> (WEI) was at a 5.9 as my slowest feature for disk performance. I was determined to bring this up. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>New Drive</b>: <a href="http://www.corsair.com/ssd/force-series-gt-ssd/force-series-gt-120gb-sata-3-6gbps-solid-state-hard-drive.html">Corsair Force 3 GT 120GB</a><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The reason I selected this drive and purchased it from <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233191">NewEgg</a> is that it had just a bit extra performance, was red and matched the red <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145291">Corsair Dominator</a> memory that I have, and was much cheaper at NewEgg than elsewhere. The drive also won a performance award for “Fastest/Best Performance”. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If you are wondering why I’m writing this it’s because I knew that getting that kind of performance that is promised, wouldn’t be easy but I’m determined to do my best trying. <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> Upon base installation of the drive my WEI score for disk went from 5.9 to 7.4. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Enabling AHCI Mode<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal">This is the most important part as you will get blue screens and other issues if you just try to enable it. This is the default Microsoft driver that needs to be set at 0. If it’s set to 3 it’s in IDE mode. You can see the path in registry in the screenshot. If you have an Intel chip, you have to also change the iaStorV entry the same way. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8pbixSt5y-1XDfEoBSYXkkDe6S8AjminwCGomzCUhw0leL1rC7tnsETfuFbN2YdUfew1pTkoj03EU8pRAidgkiw9H1VMEFNmNDK-Luhw_z3j7txD_psPCEN853APBL6wJ2rZX-x5ZSSs/s1600/pic1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8pbixSt5y-1XDfEoBSYXkkDe6S8AjminwCGomzCUhw0leL1rC7tnsETfuFbN2YdUfew1pTkoj03EU8pRAidgkiw9H1VMEFNmNDK-Luhw_z3j7txD_psPCEN853APBL6wJ2rZX-x5ZSSs/s320/pic1.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">If you’re wondering what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface">AHCI</a> mode is, it’s an acronym that stands for “Advanced Hosting Controller Interface” that is designed to work with faster equipment and is used instead of the standard <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA#IDE_and_ATA-1">IDE</a> interface. Integrated Drive Electronics is the legacy technology with some limits that AHCI gets past. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Trim Enabled<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM">Trim</a> is a new technology created for SSD drives so that their speed can be increased and their lives extended. SSD drives have a finite amount of writes available to them so the Trim command handles deletes and garbage collection differently. If you are running Windows 7 and have an SSD, you should enable this.<br />
<br />
Modern drives will automatically be detected and have this enabled but it doesn’t hurt to double check. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Running the command below will enable Trim in Windows 7. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #e1e4f2; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">DisableDeleteNotify = 1 (Windows TRIM commands are disabled)</span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #e1e4f2; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Windows TRIM commands are enabled)</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #e1e4f2; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVpRNtGwJavk6cp6IGCRAZEXNCuG9Ud21ne_37az15inO6FmB_56Jth9w1VpwuymM6mDGdMXxEwgyNSy7NW8dkrZANRkwba9nvF_Cifrwm7tXKOenbbDbhdDe3b04Kj-eiuFdSNuqvjxo/s1600/pic2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVpRNtGwJavk6cp6IGCRAZEXNCuG9Ud21ne_37az15inO6FmB_56Jth9w1VpwuymM6mDGdMXxEwgyNSy7NW8dkrZANRkwba9nvF_Cifrwm7tXKOenbbDbhdDe3b04Kj-eiuFdSNuqvjxo/s320/pic2.png" width="320" /></a><br />
<b><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></b><br />
Test #1</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">SATA 3 - Marvell Controller (I/O Connectivity <a href="http://www.sybausa.com/productInfo.php?iid=979">Syba SY-PEX40032</a>)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">SATA 3 – Green SATA Cable<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOaDg1ysRu2wSx_spneFHdQhIWhKkz3dEgwZDq6jJcC-G40OPnvrE7whO2yxu3BulrbYznuNQkKm0Jjq23yqv3CzvjJkKnRL5WJPY-HH8IuuDsvBheF21P537KEYK_w5W-MmJYD2GA96g/s1600/pic3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOaDg1ysRu2wSx_spneFHdQhIWhKkz3dEgwZDq6jJcC-G40OPnvrE7whO2yxu3BulrbYznuNQkKm0Jjq23yqv3CzvjJkKnRL5WJPY-HH8IuuDsvBheF21P537KEYK_w5W-MmJYD2GA96g/s320/pic3.png" width="250" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Test #2<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal">In test two, I simply swapped out the green “SATA 3” cable for a standard run of the mill red SATA cable that comes with most hard drives. This cable was pre-SATA 3 and I wanted to see if that would make a difference. I had heard that the cables didn’t matter and this was simply a marketing gimmick. It turns out the performance was almost identical. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1EdgDfUXrhJbdnO1VsIKRNuq-TbnqeIgFKC6uZABGTWRSw-iaZUBQyvXM1FilmN856-WQ6MbT63K2kO4H2lTqWekQp2fDU5AL3qEW1jPo064p1GJSDKaBt6oOh6jfrOG6Sw_VwrY0tA/s1600/pic4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1EdgDfUXrhJbdnO1VsIKRNuq-TbnqeIgFKC6uZABGTWRSw-iaZUBQyvXM1FilmN856-WQ6MbT63K2kO4H2lTqWekQp2fDU5AL3qEW1jPo064p1GJSDKaBt6oOh6jfrOG6Sw_VwrY0tA/s320/pic4.png" width="250" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Test #3<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal">In this test, I switched over to my onboard SATA 2 controller. As an FYI, I kept blue screening and was unable to boot until I switched to the bottom set of SATA ports that were previously for RAID only. After scratching my head on this and staring at the bios screen, I noticed that the only place I could change things to AHCI was on the SATA-RAID setting which gave me the clue to switch to the bottom set of ports. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve got a <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130236">MSI MF980-G65</a> motherboard which I also bought at NewEgg. I don’t believe they make it any more as it’s ancient at two years old. It was near top of the line when I bought it. I always by right under the top of the line because I’m not made of money. This board has been solid since I bought it and was the best choice for me when I got two Nvidia MSI GeForce FTX 360 Core video cards. Many of the motherboards were either Intel/Nvidia or AMD/Radeon. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPahXO1yMyL6x3VSdWS8cROc-blu1jZLBeBgZZVaMcWW4VHi3lV0-WXLwUS-Uu8k4BfWvWEkFJZ6xwe3yGLSN0q20CcYPJb6ieaLQBoY-jqnwVcw8jtUpFJbgIREf50kpq48x0jwM6GDs/s1600/pic5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPahXO1yMyL6x3VSdWS8cROc-blu1jZLBeBgZZVaMcWW4VHi3lV0-WXLwUS-Uu8k4BfWvWEkFJZ6xwe3yGLSN0q20CcYPJb6ieaLQBoY-jqnwVcw8jtUpFJbgIREf50kpq48x0jwM6GDs/s320/pic5.png" width="250" /></a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">As you can see, my performance really jumped by quite a bit. If you notice, each of the tests starts to top out. What I am beginning to think is that my SATA 3 controller is a piece of junk and I’ll need to go premium to get the most performance. I decided to re-run the WEI and I was very happy to see the disk performance jump to a 7.8 out of 7.9. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnzCaPPeAsUj9fU9zHc-3g4jERUmOKBPdZ1Xwi-zh7cG1OEbxxJL_kbIH8SLIVFFoSd00nyJxhi1gFj7StnJ8LfFMTTkC1pSPEYGTzWDQJVRYdczx1RD9puwfykfsHGxIkFUNXDOzt5M/s1600/pic6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnzCaPPeAsUj9fU9zHc-3g4jERUmOKBPdZ1Xwi-zh7cG1OEbxxJL_kbIH8SLIVFFoSd00nyJxhi1gFj7StnJ8LfFMTTkC1pSPEYGTzWDQJVRYdczx1RD9puwfykfsHGxIkFUNXDOzt5M/s320/pic6.png" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><b><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19px;">Next Steps</span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">From what I can tell here, I’m still capped at the top speeds capable by SATA 2. I need to get a better SATA 3 controller and take full advantage of this drive. I’ll update this post as soon as I have more information. I’m on the hunt for a new controller. <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">-Paul @SolarCurve Drew<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>References<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.google.com/">Googling</a> helped for most of this but the <a href="http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97164">Corsair forums</a> were very helpful with a consistent voice from <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/XMSYellowbeard">Yellowbeard</a> who is the community manager. I am impressed with their products and their support of their users. <o:p></o:p></div>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-60508527116197877382011-03-26T17:48:00.000-07:002011-03-26T18:28:20.867-07:00Ignite Dallas #3I recently spoke at <a href="http://ignitedallas.org/">Ignite Dallas #3</a> about intelligence and learning. The video was released and can be seen <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WGq9G79R30">here</a> or below. I've heard from quite a few people about this and the feedback was interesting. It seems to have resonated with most people but some took issue with it. <div><br /></div><div>The people who get it understand that my speech reflected traits in ALL of us. We meet expectations and only rise to the challenges presented to us unless we get inspired and self motivated about something. Most of the time, that is NOT work. It is what it is and that is why I said a few times to apply this "student for life" mentality to things you need to do and not just what you want to do. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've been told by others who used to work for me, with me, or were just friends that they felt as if I was picking on them specifically. I wasn't talking about ANYONE in particular and in fact the speech was built to touch on EVERYONE because we are all guilty of many of these things even if we never would admit it to others. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm very proud of the experience and still stand firmly behind my message. I'm curious if any part resonated with you, and if you have any comments about it. I'm also curious if you've come across any systems or ways to keep yourself motivated and learning. Am I just an idealist or do others agree with my message?</div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0WGq9G79R30" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br />Links:<br /><a href="http://www.toastmasters.org/">Toast Masters </a>(Public Speaking)<br /><a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm">MIT Free Learning</a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wikipedia </a>(Online learning encyclopedia)<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/">Google </a>(Everything else, yes Google works when you want to learn and understand)SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-82198886700377965032011-03-17T06:13:00.000-07:002011-03-17T06:22:57.841-07:00Testing BrightcoveI picked up a <a href="http://www.brightcove.com/">Brightcove </a>account and I'm playing around with embedding a video into my blog. I'm very impressed with their platform and after evaluating many others, this is the best that I've seen. It's very afforable for a business who wants to do more than just <a href="http://www.youtube.com/">YouTube</a>. While there is nothing wrong with YouTube, it has limitations and this allows you to monetize and control access to your videos. <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><object id="flashObj" width="480" height="270" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="@videoPlayer=832555122001&playerID=756506553001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAr2hyTLE~,gDc9XIwkzqHSjJd0YUrTmm6qYgRwlepY&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="@videoPlayer=832555122001&playerID=756506553001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAr2hyTLE~,gDc9XIwkzqHSjJd0YUrTmm6qYgRwlepY&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="480" height="270" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-85717023212772720942011-02-28T06:53:00.000-08:002011-02-28T07:01:23.463-08:00Learning ResourcesIt's a safe bet that if you are reading my blog, you have heard of the Amazon Kindle. I've still got and love my original Kindle as it's helped me read more and faster. The ability to search books and carry an entire library around is profound.<br /><br />The reason most people don't have one if the price barrier. The devices were very expensive but the new models have come down quite a bit. Did you know that there is a free Kindle App for just about every device including mobile phones, iPads, and even your PC. You can download the app for the PC from <a href="http://www.blogger.com/amazon.com/KindleForPC">here</a>.<br /><br />What is important about this is that there are thousands of free books that are available for anyone. These books are often classics which are public domain and have been input by passionate fans wanting to spread knowledge. There are many books that are free that are excellent sources of inspiration and learning. You can view the free ones <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_353485762_3?ie=UTF8&node=2245146011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=auto-sparkle&pf_rd_r=16V0S0QCER4QDPGRRWK9&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_p=1272382422&pf_rd_i=free">here</a>.SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-11506820720530326612011-01-03T19:07:00.001-08:002011-01-03T19:25:43.420-08:00Old School Skills FTW!<span class="Apple-style-span">So, I'm assuming you know that FTW means For the Win!. With that out of the way, I'm very pumped up right now that I was able to pull out my old school <a href="http://www.linux.org/">Linux</a> skills to solve a very serious problem one of my best friends was having. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">My friend has a small business with three people that doing quite alot of work but their data needs aren't huge. They are real and involve print assets but we aren't talking more than 2 terabytes. At his request for a solution, I talked him into a <a href="http://www.buffalotech.com/products/network-storage/home-and-small-office/linkstation-pro-quad-ls-qvlr5/">Buffalo Linkstation Pr</a>o that holds about 4TB in raid 5 so his data would be protected. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">After 15 months of solid use with no issues, they arrived to work one morning and it wouldn't work. We unplugged and re-plugged it back in but the device was stuck in a pattern of running disk checks and not allowing access to the data. We called buffalo and they said it can take up to 8 hours per TB of raw disk. We waited two days and the device now showed up as offline. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">We did what any normal person with business data would do and found a duplicate model brand new and tried to swap the disks into it. The only problem was that the problem followed the disks as the new unit had the same behavior and the old unit with new drives was fine. We were hopeful as the errors shown were things like fan failure, unable to mount, etc. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">After trying various things over a few days, I threw in the towel. We went back to <a href="http://www.frys.com/">Fry's</a> and purchases an <a href="http://www.serialata.org/technology/esata.asp">eSata</a> drive array and put in the troubled drives. We took a working PC, booted it with a <a href="http://www.knoppix.net">Knoppix linux CD</a> and within a few minutes using the commands below, it was all working. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Option 11</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">(Shell prompt)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>fdisk -l </i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">(validating I could see all the physical disks)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>mdadm --examine /dev/sde6</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">(Told me that it was a member of a raid5 group and the other disks were present)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>mdadm --assemble /dev/md0 /dev/sde6 /dev/sdf6 /dev/sdg6 /dev/sdh6</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">(This brought it bound them together as a unit)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; "><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; "><i>mkdir /mnt/raid</i></span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; ">(This made a place for us to mount the new raid for access)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>mount -t xfs /dev/md0 /mnt/raid</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span">(This command actually mounted it)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span">cd /mnt/raid</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span">(Next I went into the device and saw that my data was intact)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>mkdir /mnt/share</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span">(Made a place for my windows share to copy the data to)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>mount -t smbfs 192.168.0.150:share /mnt/share</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span">(This mounted it up onto the server)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>cp -r /mnt/raid /mnt/share</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span">(this copied the data off)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; ">There really wasn't any magic but I had to pull out all my old school skills and think it through. I was honestly a bit scared to get this involved on a drive as it contained someone elses critical business data. All in all, it is done and I feel a HUGE relief. This post is only to document in case it helps someone else. :) </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><br /></span></p></div>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-39684061139896729262010-11-19T08:01:00.000-08:002010-11-19T08:08:40.833-08:00List of Windows Phone7 Apps & PopularityI stumbled on this<a href="http://www.bing.com/visualsearch?g=wp7&qpvt=Windows+Phone+7+Apps"> link</a> and thought I would share. You can see the apps, and their popularity. So far, all my favorites are in good working order including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare. My hopes are high that the app market won't be flooded with crap like the Android and iPhone stores but I can already see the fart apps and others coming in. <div><br /></div><div>As a former Android G1 user, I'm delighted with the user experience and ease of use that I'm finding with the apps. I'm spending less and less time navigating and I get in and out quickly in my phone. It really is a phone to save me from my phone. So far, I've converted three people into making the switch. Each were iPhone users who have what I describe as iFatigue. They were ready for a change and I see Windows Phone7 being a slow growing that is going to start catching the buzz in the next few months. I'm thinking it's going to be a good time to buy some Microsoft <a href="http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:MSFT">Stock</a>. their stock has been downgraded often because they aren't sexy but between Phone7, Windows 7, and Kinect, I'm thinking it's a great time to buy. </div><div><br /></div><div>What do you think? Have you seen it yet? I'm smitten and I keep making the joke that I keep playing with it so much that I'm going to go blind. #Love iT!</div>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-21395406014949916082010-11-15T19:07:00.000-08:002010-11-16T11:55:29.295-08:00I've got my HD7!w00t w00t! So, I got my phone today at 2pm from <a href="http://www.ups.com/">UPS</a>. I had to wait a week after everyone else because I wanted to save a little money by ordering through <a href="http://wireless.amazon.com/">Amazon Wireless</a> instead of waiting on <a href="http://www.tmobile.com/">T-Mobile</a> to open up their ordering. Instead of $199 for the phone through T-Mobile directly, I got it for $169 from Amazon. To my surprise and delight, I received an email from Amazon a few days before it shipped stating that the lowered the price to $149. Sweet!<div><br /></div><div>So, I get the phone, and it's gorgeous. Despite people saying the screen wasn't that nice, they obviously are much more picky than I am. I've been happily using my Android G1 for the last two years and this is a HUGE step above. The phone feels study and as others have reported, fits nicely into my hand and isn't too big. </div><div><br /></div><div>For the unboxing and setup, I've been running into some stumbling blocks that might hurt the experience for those less technical or patient. My brother used to work at T-Mobile and I know he would have his hands full over the last week with complaints. My issues are detailed below to help others and they aren't meant as a complaint. I know what I get into with being an early adopter and I am hard headed enough to love it. </div><div><ol><li>To be honest, it took me a few minutes to even figure out how to turn it on. there is a piece of plastic over the battery connectors so despite clicking power and trying to charge it, I had to open up the back and remove it. </li><li>Adding emails and linking accounts was pretty simple. I couldn't auth to my Xbox Live ID and it was driving me crazy because my other Live ID worked just fine with the same exact password. This one is resolved as it turns out this ID has a non Microsoft suffix and when I logged in via a web browser, I needed to authorize my account. A click of "Send authorization email" and then clicking the "Yes, I want to authorize this account" in the email made the problem go away. </li><li>During the setup, the initial Facebook setup process was easy, the only problem was that it brought in the contacts and shocking amount of information for my over 700 friends into my phone. Under settings, then people I selected to not list contacts that were not linked to others in my phone. My word of caution is to not select this until you've linked all of them up properly. If you only have an email from someone and it doesn't match their name or email on Facebook you won't be able to link the account and it will go away. </li><li>There is no option for "GPS" and only "Location" on or off. I've selected on, but the maps app has me about a quarter away from my house. This is a result I would expect on my G1 if I was only using wifi for location. The same issue showed up in Foursquare as it didn't realized I got in my car and drove a few miles away. I'll keep digging.</li><li>Outlook seems to complain when I type in the wrong server with a "Cannot connect to mail.xxx.com" and when it's right, and the password is wrong it tells me. But then, it says it's syncing and can't finish. The error is below and this is still an outstanding one. Googling isn't helping so far. Any takers?</li></ol><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Outlook error</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Not updated</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We're having a problem syncing your</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>information. Try again later.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Last tried 2 seconds ago</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Error code: 8500201D"</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As mentioned above, I realize when it's wrong information on the server, username, domain, or password based on the information that is coming back.<br /><br />I'm sure that I'll find more to post about later but those are my first 5 issues. I was able to stream Netflix like a champ and download apps very well. I'm still grinning ear to ear and loving the phone. I am a satisfied customer and I'm confident this is a good phone and the issues are only software bugs that are resolvable. <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><br /><br /></span>*Update: 11/16/2010 6:40am CST - I was troubleshooting some more and unchecked to sync email leaving Calender and Contacts selected. This actually worked. Selecting email again, resulted in the same previous error. So I've definately got the right settings in place, I might need to get my IT team to look at something on their end as the issue might be a server side setting dealing with security, permissions, or policies. I found <a href="http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/exchange-activesync-considerations-when-using-windows-phone-7-clients.aspx">this</a> post that I'll be discussing with my IT team on shortly.<br /><br />Additionally, I was able see this morning that maps did show me in the right location. I don't think I made any changes and I'm worried that it's going to be that slow. I will keep you updated here too.<br /></div><div><br />As a last update on this post. I found the ability to import my Gmail contacts into my LiveID account. This was pretty huge as I was dreading putting my contacts into the phone. Switching from Android meant that all my contact information was there. Despite connecting to Gmail and being able to read my emails, it doesn't pull the contacts. This ability to import from the web interface easily solved my issue. It even linked up the majority of the contacts to Facebook and my Outlook contacts where appropriate. Good stuff. :)<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span></div><div><br /></div><div>*Update: 11/16/2010 9:40am CST - At work we have a hidden SSID for our wireless connection. This is a missing feature in Windows Phone7. I hope they add it later, and I would hope that T-Mobile would want it too so they can save their bandwidth. This is pretty annoying considering I just bought two games in the market place and I can't download them over the air or tethered. It only supports downloading via wifi. That means I have to wait till I get home. :( </div><div><br /></div><div>*Update: 11/16/2010 1:49pm CST - We have Outlook! Even tho I had only selected to download email from the last 3 days, it appears that the amount of email in my inbox was causing it to freak out. As I was troubleshooting with my IT team, they noticed that when I was tethered, it looked like my laptop was making the queries to the Exchange server instead of the phone directly. Since my laptop was on the VPN, I changed the mail server name to the internal name and unchecked the SSL option. </div><div><br /></div><div>This was the magic combination and in a few minutes, I had all my email. After that initial sync and subsequent tests, I disconnected and tried again but it failed because it wasn't on the VPN. Then I changed it back to the external name with SSL as it was originally set and it worked. Now I'm getting my emails without a problem. </div><div><br /></div><div>My co-worker with a Samsung Focus on AT&T was having a similar issue with a different error code. My fix didn't work for him but he did get it resolved. It turns out that it didn't like him having sub folders under his inbox. Removing them allowed him to connect and resolved his problems. </div>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-39986247153688620912010-09-20T18:48:00.000-07:002010-09-21T08:34:35.242-07:00Hot for Windows Phone 7If you know me, you know I'm a nerd and an early adopter. I like the pain of issues from adopting early because it helps me learn more about it and lets me get under the hood. I'm happy when new technology "just works," but when it doesn't, it often forces the inner dork in me come out to play.<br /><br />I was a first-day early Android adopter, and I happily plunked down my money for the <a href="http://www.htc.com/www/product/g1/overview.html">HTC G1</a> from <a href="http://www.t-mobile.com/">T-Mobile</a>, which I still have. I've been happy with it since that purchase and it was a great investment. I chose <a href="http://www.android.com/">Android</a> over the<a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/"> iPhone</a> for several reasons. Being open to any carrier, any maker, and the ability for people to customize their experience is what drove me to the purchase, and it has excited me to see the Android's popularity grow since its release.<br /><br />I always find it interesting when open standards challenge closed, proprietary platforms. Take <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax">Beta Max</a> versus VHS. <a href="http://www.sony.com/">Sony</a> was the company behind Beta Max and they lost to the VHS open standard, even though at the time everyone believed beta max was better. Another example again features Sony with their <a href="http://b2b.sony.com/b2bMicrosites/Storage/AIT5/index.html">AIT</a> proprietary tape format, developed for the then niche market of digital media. <a href="http://www.seagate.com/">Seagate</a>, <a href="http://www.hp.com/">HP</a> & <a href="http://www.ibm.com/us/en/">IBM</a> initiated the <a href="http://www.lto.org/">LTO Consortium</a> in the late 1990s as an open standards alternative to the proprietary magnetic tape formats available at the time, and LTO has been the best-selling "super tape" format since 2002.<br /><br />So given the theory above, my money was on Android against the iPhone, which is turning out to have been a good bet, now that Android apps are rushing to the market in droves, and Android phones are selling over 100,000 units per day. A key component with Android was the huge number of professional java developers that could get to work on something they were already familiar with. <div><br />What can beat a winning open formula like this you might say? The great combination of Enterprise and openness. Make something for the Enterprise but open it up for competition and you have yourself a winning combination.<br /><br />Enter <a href="http://www.windowsphone7.com/">Microsoft Windows Phone 7</a> to the party. Not only do you bring the biggest paying and highest quantity of buyers to the party, but you bring all the vendors looking to get at the money and market share. Take it a step further and sprinkle in the <a href="http://www.xbox.com/en-US/">Xbox</a> gaming community that is currently 25 million subscribers per month strong and you have yourself the making of a huge shift in the market.<br /><br />What will ultimately make or break the platform is developers. some say the new <a href="http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/">Palm Pre</a> platform was pretty nice but the lack of apps at launch made it fall flat with very little success. Recently <a href="http://www.hp.com/">HP</a> took a gamble and purchased Palm for <a href="http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2010/100428xa.html">1.2 billion</a>. Now they will be trying their hand into the tablet market but without developers, I don't predict much success. Windows Phone 7 is based on its popular <a href="http://www.zune.net/en-US/">Microsoft Zune</a> device and hundreds of thousands of developers who already know how to program in <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/net/">Microsoft .Net</a>, <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/">Silverlight</a>, and <a href="http://www.xna.com/">XNA</a> are off to the races. They don't have to learn a new language; they don't have to buy a new computer, pay additional fees or anything like Android of<a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/ios4/"> iOS</a> development.<br /><br />Given the technology demos and videos that have made it to light and the huge list of games, the platform doesn't seem lacking. The <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/16/xbox-live-launch-titles-for-windows-phone-7-finally-revealed-we/">Xbox gaming integration</a>, Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare was enough to have me salivating and ready to go. If I was a betting man, my money would be on Microsoft for the win.<br /><br />People have beaten on Microsoft for the last 2 years that they were late to the party and missed out. The same was said when the early versions of Windows launched and they had no developer tools or platform. Now they have .Net and are easily the most advanced, organized, and modern tools / platform in existence.<br /><br />I don't have a date for launch, nor do I know what exact phone I want to get. I know my T-Mobile contract is up for renewal, and I've got a handful of cash ready to throw down for a Windows Phone 7 device. They may have been late to the party, but they are here now, and they brought a keg, shots, and some friends. Let's get it on!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/18/windows-phone-7-series-the-complete-guide/">Windows Phone 7 Complete Guide</a></div>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-44268502975268292192010-08-20T05:19:00.000-07:002010-08-20T05:43:08.029-07:00Great Online Savings ProgramsI was talking with someone the other day about how to get started saving for college as they have a new born baby and didn't have any clue on how to start or even how they would afford it. I told them about the programs below that we have been using for a while. <div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><a href="http://www.upromise.com/welcome">U</a></span><a href="http://www.upromise.com/welcome">Promise</a> is an online program that you create a saving program with. Many retailers will give a percentage of your transaction with them back into the college fund. For example, every time I fill up my car at Exxon, I get a rebate of 1 cent per gallon of gas purchased. Some retailers offer up to 10% credits. </div><div><br /></div><div>The way it works is that you create an account and tie your credit cards to it. Any purchases with those cards automatically trigger the rebate. This isn't limited to a single card or family either. So for example my mom, aunts, uncles, and others in the family can also add in their cards and participate in the donations. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><a href="https://uii.nysaves.s.upromise.com/content/faqs.html">N</a></span><a href="https://uii.nysaves.s.upromise.com/content/faqs.html">ew York 529</a> is the New York state college savings program that has the best terms, options, and features. My wife did quite a bit of research on this and while we live in Texas, we went with the New York plan. The link on the name is to the FAQ section where your questions may be answered. If you notice once you get there it's part of the UPromise framework so you can really take advantage of that program and grow things even further. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><br /></span></div><div><a href="http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=Oyy%2B5WnjbpA2EBaHnw4sCQ%3D%3D">EBates</a> is a program that doesn't help you save directly for college but it gives you cash rebates on your online purchases. Sometimes it's quite a lot and getting cash back for something you were going to do anyways is pretty nice. This isn't a pyramid scheme or multi-level marketing. You just go to the site, login, and then find the retailer you were going to purchase from, and go about your business. My wife and I have been using it with success for a while and it's been nice to get the rebates back in the form of gift cards. </div><div><br /></div><div>There are so many scams and pyramid systems on the internet and it's hard to tell which is real and which isn't. I'll tell you we have been using these programs for years and have literally saved up thousands of dollars as we are also putting in my directly from our paycheck as well. It's nice to do what you were going to do and earn more for the kids. Getting gift cards of our choice back from EBates is fun too. </div><div><br /></div><div>The purpose of my email is to just share the information as so many people I've talked to have no idea that these types of programs exist and their first response is an assumption that it's a scam or too hard. I'm a very happy user and have been for years sleeping well at night knowing I'm saving for my girls college. </div>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-43791599670478196732010-04-26T13:46:00.000-07:002010-04-26T13:46:35.326-07:00Summit catches 3D gaming in upswingI was reading this article about 3D gaming and it could not be any more dead on about the timing and readyness for 3D gaming.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ieae2fa145a05b6f7512666110c993ff1">Summit catches 3D gaming in upswing</a><br /><br />When I was at CES in January I saw the huge amount of hype and push for 3D TV. I just have no desire to gear up to watch TV. That is when I relax and I don't want to put on battery powered glasses to do it in my own living room. I understand that porn watchers are going to ultimately drive the technology like most innovations.<br /><br />I did get a chance to experience the <a href="http://www.nvidia.com/object/3D_Vision_Main.html">Nvidia</a> gaming booth and I was bown away. The games are computer generated so the natural depth perception isn't quite the same as looking at real people in a movie. I already sit down and gear up to play with my gaming mouse, keyboard, headphones, and microphone, so why not throw in some battery powered glasses too? After checking out a game hands on in Vegas, I'm ready for 3D and will be making a <a href="http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_GeForce_3D_VisionBundle_us.html">purchase</a> soon to get there.SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-71232457872654793482010-04-23T05:28:00.001-07:002010-04-23T05:51:56.447-07:00Ignite Dallas #2I've been following the TED events for a few years and I've always wanted to go but haven't been able to get approved to attend. If you are not familiar with TED it is a gathering of people who give timed presentations on their big ideas. You have to be reviewed and your idea has to be pretty riveting or game changing to present.<br /><br />To be able to attend an event in person you have to write an essay and be pretty important. I do appreciate being able to watch all the videos on <a href="http://www.ted.com/">www.TED.com. </a>I find them very inspirational and they continue to give me hope for the future of humanity.<br /><br />Recently other groups have been working to emulate TED such as <a href="http://smu.edu/">SMU</a> with their <a href="http://www.tedxsmu.org/">TEDxSMU</a> event which I also tried to get into and was not accepted. I stumbled on another group which I was able to get into and I'm looking forward to seeing what the event holds. This group is called <a href="http://ignitedallas.org/">Ignite Dallas</a>. I registered on EventBright for only $20 <a href="http://ignitedallas2.eventbrite.com/">here</a> and there is a Facebook page<a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115564995132324"> here</a>. I'll attend and report back on how it goes. It's Wednesday June 2nd from 6pm till 10pm at the <a href="http://www.granadatheater.com/">Granada Theatre</a>.SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-17537402814523659322010-04-13T17:00:00.001-07:002010-04-13T17:00:28.628-07:00Brightcove - B2B Marketing with VideoI was sent this video by someone and I have to say that it's a good way to think about video. I've never seen this type of cohesive approach to video before and I wanted to share it with others. This is probably only interesting to you if you are in marketing but I could be wrong.<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_2014310"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/brightcovecp/brightcove-b2b-marketing-with-video" title="Brightcove - B2B Marketing with Video">Brightcove - B2B Marketing with Video</a></strong><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=brightcovemarketingwithvideoshortv3-090917164138-phpapp02&stripped_title=brightcove-b2b-marketing-with-video" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=brightcovemarketingwithvideoshortv3-090917164138-phpapp02&stripped_title=brightcove-b2b-marketing-with-video" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/brightcovecp">Brightcove</a>.</div></div>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-34668561176653910972010-03-31T18:45:00.000-07:002010-03-31T18:53:33.762-07:00TetriTherapy?A friend of mine sent me this <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004153">link</a> which discusses the output of some research on the positive benefits of playing <a href="http://www.tetris.com/">Tetris</a> to reduce the incidents of traumatic flashbacks. I have to admit that after a hard day at work or when I am particularly stressed out I find myself wanting to play a game. For me it's always been a way to de-stress and unwind where others might turn to more harmful vices such as smoking, drinking, or drugs.<br /><br />One of the drawbacks I've found is going too far down and playing too much. This has caused me to have the reverse effect where I can't sleep and I toss and turn with thoughts consumed from the game. I can play whole games in my dreams and wake up frustrated with very little deep sleep. On the other hand if I find myself not having played games for a few weeks I'll end up with nightmares where my brain goes into overdrive and so I balance things out with a little gaming every few days keeps me emotionally and mentally on an even playing field.<br /><br />I'd love to hear others and what their stress outlets are as I suspect this type of conditioning and self treatment isn't segmented to me or gaming. Am I alone and a freak on this or can others ratify my realizations?SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-81702373908161169512010-03-24T04:57:00.000-07:002010-03-24T05:12:02.341-07:00Blog FormatI've been talking with my co-worker Chris Ebbeson (@ebbynezer) about his <a href="http://www.ebbynezer.com/">blog</a> and our common situation. We want to blog more but we don't have enough to say to justify sitting down and writing something formal. We agreed that Twitter is far too small and Blogging is often too big. I am going to start writing smaller blogs as a matter of practice and not let size of the article prevent me from sharing my thoughts.<br /><br />Chris on the other hand is giving Tumblr a try. I have to admit I've not actually gone to Tumblr before so I created me an account (<a href="http://solarcurve.tumblr.com">solarcurve.tumblr.com</a>) and will be checking it out. I am impressed with all these sites and their ability to post to one another and seamlessly get your information out there. I am also afraid of overkill and duplicate postings. What are your thoughts?SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-72292428800805120842010-03-18T05:37:00.000-07:002010-03-18T06:09:30.949-07:00A new look at the old password<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;">In this day and age it's important to have a strong password and most organizations are doing a good job of requiring a password with higher degrees of strength. More importantly more and more organizations and even your operating system are opening up to much longer passwords that support special characters such as spaces. </span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;">If you are like me you have different passwords for different things and you probably have a hard time remembering the cryptic codes of mixed numbers, letters, and special characters. A few years ago I switched over to pass phrases which have eliminated a lot of issues but also helped me with my attitude and self-confidence. You might be thinking what? </span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;">Microsoft Windows for example will support passwords up to 128 characters in length including spaces and special characters such as exclamation points (! also known as bang), asterisks (* also known as splat), and even question marks. Many other sites are supporting moderately long passwords which open up more possibilities. Rather than a password of “abcd1234!” or something similar to fulfill the complexity requirements consider to switching to something more fun, easier to remember, more secure, and possible self supporting. </span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;">For example I was using a variation on "I am organized!" which is pretty easy to remember and helped me think about wanting to stay organized when I was doing my work. This is much easier to remember and is 15 characters instead of the traditional 6 or 8 characters which means it's MUCH more difficult to crack. The spaces and punctuation are keys to a tough-to-crack password and ways to make it unique to you to avoid easy guesses. </span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;">With that being said it's important to not have something so obvious that it becomes part of the standard password guessing and hacking attempts. A bad example would be "I am sexy" or "I am smart". Both of which might be helpful but you need to customize it in some form or fashion such as "I! am very smart" which supports that need as well as pushes the affirmation to another level. I do not suggest that you have to start with an "I am" prefix as you can and should create a variation that supports your personality and needs such as "On time is how I roll."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"></span></p><br /><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;">Given that I lock my work station every time I get up at work and I have to log back in I've found this approach to be quite a positive and helpful change. Since I have different passwords for different things I am bombarded with positive messages throughout the day as I log into various systems and sites because I think it as I type it. I hope that you will give it a try and that it will work for you too. </span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></o:p></p>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-12046835504282588592010-01-30T07:31:00.000-08:002010-01-30T10:20:14.188-08:00Windows 7 and Xbox Media Center ExtenderI've been tinkering for about a year trying to get my <a href="http://www.xbox.com/">Microsoft Xbox 360's</a> (Yes, more than 1) to be able to stream music and media from my computer to my TV's and this has been a constant struggle with no success and no idea how to get it working. I even tried on the other computers running <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx">Windows 7</a> and had the same issues but I couldn't even get it to work on XP either.<br /><br />I was convinced at some point along the way that it had to be a network issue because perhaps I didn't have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multicast">Multicast </a>and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Plug_and_Play">Universal Plug and Pla</a>y (uPnP) working right. I am running a <a href="http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps5708/ps5709/ps2030/ps2031/product_data_sheet09186a0080091b18.html">Cisco Pix 501</a> for my Firewall and Router and a <a href="http://www.netgear.com/Products/Switches/SmartSwitches/GS724T.aspx">Netgear GS724T</a> for my switch. Those are both non-home devices and maybe they were part of the problem.<br /><br />After exhausting efforts there I decided to take another look at my computer itself. I am running a licensed business edition of <a href="http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-internet-security-network-edition">AVG</a> because I am a big fan and most things online point to the problem being a firewall configuration for it. I am however NOT running their firewall because I am running my network behind the strict pix configuration. This means I am running the stock Microsoft Windows Firewall that comes built into Windows. I had been trying to get the communication between the Xbox and the computer to work with it both enabled and disabled with no luck and I kept getting the same error of "Cannot Configure Extender".<br /><br />I decided to enable the Windows Firewall again and check the program settings for enabled apps which revealed that the "Media Center Extenders" and "Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service" was not checked. Checking them and clicking "OK" made communication work instantly and the problem was resolved.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYdJ3qTFCdB9yKv4GTMnyfTNTXkLjA4ge79p6kY7bHwDkHkQSukPIkDrreHSAj31IesW3r289msmSDIny90kc4Ot5oYQP9_DrrtKmzwH9OwIM7ZLp1E-V7YhaE8-eYHyIfcM1suHBr-o/s1600-h/Exception1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYdJ3qTFCdB9yKv4GTMnyfTNTXkLjA4ge79p6kY7bHwDkHkQSukPIkDrreHSAj31IesW3r289msmSDIny90kc4Ot5oYQP9_DrrtKmzwH9OwIM7ZLp1E-V7YhaE8-eYHyIfcM1suHBr-o/s320/Exception1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432560509006778498" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTFJew6TIPExRlqa4avp4FMuYHVsi6cXvN9WN4-pSpZEDrrTpONsjd5oWAdy3bT-UGAWc-vNaG7UntjZjgZAznPNZUKRssMQdDXv1y9dE2vebeRnQzRA-teCXWeqIb7BzahZ2SwkK_qXM/s1600-h/Exception2.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 297px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTFJew6TIPExRlqa4avp4FMuYHVsi6cXvN9WN4-pSpZEDrrTpONsjd5oWAdy3bT-UGAWc-vNaG7UntjZjgZAznPNZUKRssMQdDXv1y9dE2vebeRnQzRA-teCXWeqIb7BzahZ2SwkK_qXM/s320/Exception2.1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432560904089859010" border="0" /></a><br />I followed all the instructions I could find and even went to <a href="http://www.xbox.com/pcsetup">http://www.xbox.com/pcsetup</a> like the Xbox screen says to do but this bit of instructions wasn't mentioned so I am posting it for others in case they are beating their heads in on the same issue.SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-86475745220098544202010-01-27T17:41:00.000-08:002010-01-27T18:20:52.276-08:00New Apple iPadMany people were like me today and glued to their computers all around the world in their respective time zone looking to hear the news of the much rumored <a href="http://www.apple.com/ipad/">iPad</a>. We were not confused as it really was called the iPad and it included many of the heavily rumored features that people were lusting over.. but not all.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hype!</span><br />The hype surrounding this launch and the mystery lead to many rumors such as the ability for the device to bend time and space lead to such insanity as<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/the-apple-press-conference-drinking-game"> drinking games</a> designed to be played around the launch which detailed out all the features and if included you had to drink.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Arrival Day</span><br />I was one of the many glued to my computer and eating at my desk as it occurred at 12:00pm CST. I was frustrated but not mad that I couldn't follow anything at all on <a href="http://www.apple.com/">www.apple.com</a> or any of their subsidiary sites that I was aware of. <a href="http://www.twitter.com/">Twitter</a> didn't yield much more, no streaming video that I could find other than some silliness going on with the folks at <a href="http://www.crunchgear.com/">Crunch Gear</a>. I found the best source of information was the blogging which included great pictures and comments from <a href="http://www.engadget.com/">Engadget</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Device</span><br />I am not an Apple, Google, or Microsoft Fanboy and I consider myself omni-tech-ual? I have programing (Shell Scripting, Perl, PHP), Unix (SGI Irix, Sun Solaris), and Microsoft certifications as well as a background using and supporting Macs since 1994 not to mention that I happily own an Android phone. I am just a nerd and use the best tool available for the job at hand.<br /><br />There are many sites including those names above that will cover in extreme detail what the iPad costs, contains, and promises so I won't get into that. I realize that we as a greedy never satisfied culture are never satisfied but I was not very impressed. In short I feel like this is a huge iPod Touch with a 3G upgrade if you want it. The following list of things are missing and to me are deal breakers that I expected to be fixed before I pull out my wallet (Which I was excited and ready to do).<br /><ul><li>No Flash (really? still?)</li><li>No Camera (Barcode reading, video conference, etc)</li><li>No GPS (Isn't the purpose to be mobile?)</li><li>No USB (I can't plug anything in like a GPS or Camera, or Mouse and Keyboard?)</li><li>No SD or Memory Slots? (I can't upload anything via sneaker net?)</li><li>No Multi-tasking? (I am way too ADHD to only be able to do 1 thing at a time)</li><li>Still stuck with AT&T (What is the purpose of defining the iPad as unlocked if it still only works with AT&T?)<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Name</span><br />The most surprising thing to me was the weak name for this which is being laughed at and jokes are being told at it's expense. Twitter is now trending on several variations on the hash tags to poke fun such as <a href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23ipadjokes">#ipadjokes</a>. My personal favorites are:<br /><ul><li>A larger version will be available this summer called the MaxiPad</li><li>Why did they call it the iPad? Because Sham-wow was already taken</li><li>With AT&T and the iPad you know the network will be down at least 5 days a month</li></ul><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Alternatives</span><br />As I mentioned above, I am ready to put out my money for something new. I am ready to invest in something that lets me indulge more in my ever increasing content and social addictions. I am extremely interested in the rumored <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet">Microsoft Courier</a> but it's still too good to be true and more focused on productivity than the iPad. I already have and still love my original <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wireless-Reading-Display-Generation/dp/B0015T963C/ref=amb_link_86425631_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=19PQ3WTSH7ENAYRNTAWM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=92551982&pf_rd_i=507846">Kindle</a> but for now I might have to just stick with my normal laptop and my <a href="http://www.android.com/">Andoid G1</a> handset.<br /><br /></span></span>My coworker Chris (<span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ebbynezer">@</a><a class="tweet-url username" href="http://www.twitter.com/ebbynezer">ebbyneze</a><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ebbynezer">r</a>) wrote a pretty interesting <a href="http://ebbynezer.com/?p=29">blog post</a> which was optimistic and very forward looking into what the iPad could have meant. After the announcement he acknowledged to me in the hall that he might have reached a bit given the outcome from the announcement.<br /><br /></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">What did you think about the announcement and will you buy an iPad? </span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content"></span></span>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-39492207520471081702010-01-17T06:21:00.000-08:002010-01-17T09:01:54.710-08:00Haiti<p class="MsoNormal">I have been very impressed with the world’s response to the Haiti earthquake, with aide coming from all over the globe. Monetary donations have poured in via a wide range of means, but most notably from social media. The Red Cross has their text campaign, where you can send $10 straight to the cause by SMS messaging the word "Haiti" to 90999<sup>1</sup>, which I was happy to do.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I was listening to <a href="http://www.npr.org/">NPR</a> the day after it happened, and I was moved by Bill Clinton's <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122540788">interview</a> about the situation, as he has been going to Haiti doing humanitarian work there with his family for 35 years. I thought to myself, “Wow, he's been going there for 35 years; Haiti gets huge amounts of donations and charity to subsidize them and still they remain that poor with diseases and have such problems.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>At the time of the earthquake, there were an estimated 45,000 Americans in Haiti who were there doing charity work to help the area. I was honestly impressed that so many of my fellow countrymen and women would be doing such work, but I thought perhaps we have been going about it the wrong way. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">One thing America is really good at is capitalism, and when it comes to capitalism, we do it better than anyone in the world in the history of the world. Why not take that same skill-set and deploy it to assist Haiti? You can read the Wiki page for Haiti<sup>1</sup> and realize they no longer have any natural resources to help drive their economy due to deforestation. Because the country is so poor, they do not have any realistic source of knowledge power either (fewer than 30% of Haiti’s inhabitants reach 6<sup>th</sup> grade<sup>1</sup>). </p> <p class="MsoNormal">If we can turn the deserts of Las Vegas into a huge thriving vacation and entertainment location that is green and a churning gear in the American economy why not work with Haiti to turn them into a vacation destination which would fuel more than enough jobs, economics, geographic revitalization, and self sustainability for the future? Dubai can build an entire city such as this from their desert and even <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Islands">palm tree-shaped islands</a> so why not this area as well?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The old adage of give a man a fish and he eats for a day (charity) but teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime (education and enterprise) comes to mind. I'm sure I am out of my mind and more research on my part will most likely prove there are plenty of political, economic, geographic, cultural issues which make it not feasible, but I would love to go on vacation to Haiti and help their country recover. I'm willing to bet most of the global world at large would be willing to "help" with a much bigger economic impact. Knowing business and capitalism, if there was a full scale plan laid out, I'm sure the companies of the world would be willing to invest and probably get some good will (and transactions) from their existing client base in the meantime.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">What do you think? Am I crazy? Would you go? Would you support companies who invested towards the recovery?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><sup><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:10.0pt;">1</span></sup><a href="http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.94aae335470e233f6cf911df43181aa0/?vgnextoid=15c0c5a210826210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:10.0pt;">http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.94aae335470e233f6cf911df43181aa0/?vgnextoid=15c0c5a210826210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD</span></a><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:10.0pt;"> Retrieved 01-17-2010<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><sup><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:10.0pt;">2</span></sup><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti"><span style=" line-height:115%;font-size:10.0pt;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti</span></a><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:10.0pt;"> Retrieved 01-17-2010<o:p></o:p></span></p>SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615087731336259408.post-33709465978981943702010-01-15T09:06:00.000-08:002010-01-17T06:00:23.557-08:00Welcome to the House of Flamp!SolarCurve is a term that I first learned in Photoshop which is used to help find blemishes and faults in your pitcures by using extreme variances to detect them. It's pretty nerdy and I know it has other meanings. I was an image re-toucher for a few years in the mid to late nineties so when I was trying to find a gaming name for playing Quake online I used it and it stuck with me. So it's been SolarCurve with everything since.<br /><br />What in the world is Flamp or Flampy? There are various definitions but I've always used it in a way to mean when something is funny, off, weak, silly, not quite right etc.<br /><br />In short what the House of Flamp promises to bring you is my thoughts which are not expert nor are they expected to be awesome, credible, or even noteworthy. Ultimately the judging of the content is up to you but at the end of the day you are here reading it and can choose to return or not.SolarCurvehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14411146691922783181noreply@blogger.com0