• Ice Road Truckers began new season.  I find this program to be oddly compelling.  Who would ever have thought that a program about a handful of truck drivers who haul freight to remote posts in the Arctic would be compelling enough for one season, let alone three.  The exploits of drivers Hugh and Alex are enough to keep you coming back, but this season, there are three new guys and a pretty attractive young lady who happens to drive a semi on ice.  Pretty cool stuff.  Ice Road Truckers airs on the History Channel every Sunday at 9PM.
• The E3 Video Games conference starts this week.  Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are all expected to unveil new hardware and software.  Sony is rumored to be bringing out a new PSP that leaves out the UMD drive and a newer, slimmer PS3.  Microsoft is supposed to announce the Zune integration and discuss the new Zune.  Nintendo, it is hoped, will talk about a new Mario game and, hopefully, an HD version of the Wii. 
• Susan Boyle lost the Britain’s Got Talent contest.  She lost out to the dance act, Diversity.  Ms. Boyle was very gracious in her lost and praised the young group, who will perform for the Queen and received 100,000 pounds.  100,000 pounds is approximately 159,000 US dollars.
• Microsoft confirmed the removal of the three app limit for Windows 7 Starter.  The move was designed to make that version of the operating system more appealing for use in small netbooks. 
• Microsoft reveals ‘Bing’, it’s new ‘discovery’ engine.  Bing is the upgraded and rebranded Windows Live Search.  Microsoft says they are strictly targeting web users and have no intention of bringing Bing to desktop.

According to Paul Thurrot, who revealed this on the Windows Weekly podcast, the Zune HD is to be released on September 5.  No confirmation from Microsoft, other than ‘in a few months.’  At the ‘All Things D’ conference this week, Steve Ballmer actually said ‘next month’, but Microsoft very quickly retracted that and said ‘in a few months.’

Engadget and Gizmodo have video demos of the device.

The new device will be flash based, but no details about how big the flash drive will be.  No pricing information has been released either.

In another interesting bit of news, Palm confirmed, at the same conference, that the PRE will sync with iTunes 8.  iTunes, apparently, will see the PRE as an iPhone.  I am wondering how long it will be before Apple closes that hole.  It will be interesting to see Apple’s response to the PRE, over all.  The PRE is due to be released on Saturday, June 6.

I realize that countless stories and postings about the cult of Apple get tiresome, and I am guilty of it as well, but it has to be one of the most fascinating subjects in the tech world.  I know some really devoted Microsoft fans-I’ve been accused of being one myself-but the Apple fans I know are even more devoted, though not to the point of such people as Key Ray, Alex Lindsay and Scott Bourne.  The latter two are at least entertaining and likable people and it is easier to over look the Apple fandom.  Key Ray, however, is a different story.

Mr. Ray is the host of Mac OS Ken, a daily podcast devoted to all things related to the company of fruit.  His podcast is one that I listen to, all at once, once a week.  Listening to it daily would be pushing it.  Actually, his podcast is OK.  Technically speaking, he does a fine job.  The quality of the audio is really good and consistent, his presentation is fine and the music is not all that bad.  It it the content that is questionable.  Now, the information-the Apple oriented stuff, anyway-is usually very accurate.  It is when he begins talking about anything that is remotely competitive with Apple and its products or anything related to Microsoft where he goes astray.  He cannot report any of that type of news in a straightforward manner or even give the most recent version of the facts.  Sometimes he will present ‘facts’ that may not be correct as if they were, even if later it was proven they were wrong.  I have never heard him retract something, unless it makes Apple look good.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he is dishonest, because from what I can tell, he’s an honest guy.  But he just does not report any corrections to the non-Apple stories he relays.

While I’ve learned to get used to the anti-Microsoft slant from him and other Apple fankids, it’s the attacks on other companies that just really puzzle me.  Take, for instance, the Palm Pre.  The Pre is, no doubt, going to be competition for the iPhone.  Already, before the device is even released, he is right there crapping on the product.  He is, in effect, doing exactly what he and the other fankids were complaining about prior to iPhone being released.  It is as if he and other fruities are scared crapless that the Pre will steal thunder from the fruit company phone.  I will wager that had Pre met with less enthusiasm than it has, he and the others would fret far less-if at all-than they are now.

Given that the iPhone is such a nice and elegant device (did I just type that?) and ‘just works’, why are these people so bent out of shape over the Pre? I can’t wait to see the anti Zune HD dribble these people will, no doubt, put out.  The HD is getting very good early reviews.  I can’t wait for Mr. Ray’s take on it.  No doubt, he will crap all over it with out even seeing it.  Yep, this will be very entertaining indeed.

You can subscribe to his podcast in the ZUNE Marketplace.

Web site link.

Well, one Zune rumor that has come true:  the Zune HD was confirmed today by Microsoft.  The new Zune will be a flash based Zune with a nice 3.3 inch, 480 x 272 OLED touch screen.  It will also include an HD radio, HD video output via a dock and will run a flavor of Windows CE.  It will also include WIFI and an real browser.  Not much else has been released by the company.  Since the E3 conference is around the corner, I am guessing they are holding off on more details until then.

The new Zune HD looks very nice.  Its design cues are similar to the iPod Touch-its main competitor-but with a bit of retro flair using lots of silver and black.

Microsoft also confirmed new Zune and XBOX Live integration…of sorts.  This will be shown off at E3.

Link:

•  ZuneHD Page

In the ‘ya gotta be kidding’ arena today, another stupendous post by the notoriously anti-Microsoft ‘journalist’ Randall C Kennedy posits that Microsoft and hardware makers are engaged in ‘price fixing’ because Microsoft has a set of guidelines that determine the types of machines that are eligible for lower cost versions of Windows 7. 

According to Kennedy, Microsoft’s ‘archaic, multilevel pricing strategy’ is what will cause the hardware makers to go with the low end version of the operating system so they will, naturally, ‘fall in line.’  He goes on to say ‘On the surface, the situation reeks of the worst kind of collusion’.  Huh?  So, according to him, if these hardware makers choose the Starter edition of Windows, that is the same as collusion. BUT…if they were to put Ubuntu on them, since there is no one company involved, then that is OK.  Never  mind that it is pretty much the same thing.  By his logic, these companies will go low end to keep the price down. Well, yeah, I’d buy that.  I would also point out that, at the very low end, there really are only two choices:  Ubuntu, which is FREE or XP/Windows 7 Starter which are low cost.  I have no doubt that most of the low end ‘netbooks’ (I really dislike that name) will be offered in both Windows and Ubuntu offerings. 

He scoffs at the maximum hardware configurations for Windows Starter Edition.  Newsflash…LOW COST means minimal hardware.  Once you go beyond a certain point, then it is a NOTEBOOK and, thus, should demand a higher price.  If I were Asus and stuck a fast processor, larger screen and two or three gigs of RAM in a portable, clam shell case, I would call it a NOTEBOOK, put a better version of Windows in it and charge a lot more money for the thing.  If I am trying to sell something with a weak processor, little memory and tiny screen-a NETBOOK-then I would put Ubuntu and/or Windows Starter on the damn thing. 

This is but one more of Kennedy’s diatribes against Microsoft and it is, yet again, sad and just poor writing.  But, I suppose, it did get him more attention.

Link:

• How Microsoft is Fixing Netbook Prices

The past six days have been a bit rough for me, personally.  I have, essentially, been waiting for my Mother to die.  Her health has been on the decline for about eight years now.  Since she had a pretty significant stroke back in 2001, her health had been steadily going down hill.  In fact, she was so bad off in 2003, the doctors did not expect her to live much past the end of that year.  She did, however, get a bit better.  However, other health issues came to the surface and the stroke had left her paralyzed on her right side.  She has been in a nursing home since then.  The facility that she has been in has taken pretty good care of her, much better than what I could have done.  It has not been easy on any of us and, in some ways, I feel that we let her down by not keeping her out of such a facility.  Realistically, though, there is no way we could have given her the attention or care she required. 

Back in January, she ended up in a local hospital where they discovered that her kidneys were in the final stages of shutting down.  Her prognosis did not look good.  I remember spending inauguration day in a hospital waiting room waiting for them to finish some rather invasive tests. 

Last Monday evening, she took a turn for the worse.  Her kidneys have pretty much shut down now.  The toxins are building up in her blood.  She is eating very little now and is not able to swallow much, if anything.  The hospice people tell us that it is just a matter of hours or days.  They told us that last Tuesday as well. 

So, we wait.  We wait for her leave us.  We knew these days would come, and I thought I was prepared.  I realize, however, that you are never really prepared for this. 

My Mother was quite a remarkable woman.  I know, we all think that.  But, how many women would welcome children into their homes, not knowing who they were before they came in?  See, Mom was a foster parent.  That is how I came into her life.  I was born into foster care.  She got me when I just days old.  I was pretty fortunate, compared to other children who were in foster care.  I was with Mom for about twelve years when she adopted me.  I was lucky.  Other children who came into her care were not as fortunate.  Some were there just for months, others for a few years.  They would be transferred out for various reasons, some because they reunited with their parents, others simply outgrew the system and a few ended up in institutions because they had medical problems or were just ‘bad’ and the state felt they would be better off in some kind of facility.  That was mostly hogwash, though.  I don’t remember any of them being that bad.  No matter what, tough, Mom never turned them down.  At one point, we must have had seven foster children.  At times it was fun having all of those ‘brothers and sisters’ and, at other times, it was not so much fun.  No matter what, Mom took care of us.  We had little money, but always managed to make ends meet.  At that is what made her such a remarkable woman.

I will miss her tremendously.

• Congratulations to Helio Castroneves for winning the Indianapolis 500.  This was, perhaps, the most exciting 500 in recent memory.  I’m not sure that is saying allot for this particular race or that the previous few years have been kind of lackluster. Not sure.  Other notable finishes were: Danica Patrick came in third and John Andretti finished 19th in Richard Petty’s #43.
• Microsoft has reversed course on the app sharing feature of the Windows Mobile app store.  Yep, you will only be able to ‘share’ with your own devices.  Upto five of them.
• The space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth.  After a successful mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope, Atlantis touched down Sunday.  The landing had already been postponed several times due to bad weather.
• Apple rejects books and then…you get it, they changed their minds.  Too much heat, I suppose.  Whatever.
• The US Army does the unthinkable:  to deploy Vista AND Office 2007.  Yes, that lowly and god awful operating system-at least, that is what some would have you think-known as Vista will deployed by end of year by the US Army.  They also will be deploying Office 2007.  Good for them.  See, I told you…it isn't SO bad.  If it is good enough for government work…
• Sun is getting into app store craze.  Yes, you read that right:  a JAVA app store.  Wow.  I am truly speechless.  That is what we need, another app store to dole out more crappy apps ‘cause we can’t find them on our own.
• Sarah Connor has been terminated.  Fox television has managed to do what Skynet has failed to do:  terminate Sarah Connor.  Low ratings and high production costs spelled doom for the show.  SyFy, you could be mankind's salvation…or, at least, Sarah’s.

Microsoft is making the Windows 7 picture a bit more clear.  Two rather significant bits of news about the operating system became known today:  the max specs for ‘netbooks’ and the three app limit on the Starter edition is being removed. 

In order to qualify for, presumably, the lower priced Starter and Home Basic editions of Windows 7, the machine:

• have more than 1gb of RAM
• screen cannot be larger than 10.2”
• hard disk of 250gb or smaller (64gb for SDD’s)
• single core processors, 2GHz or slower

Also, Paul Thurrot says that the release date for the operating system is October 15.  I hope he is correct.

There were a couple of noteworthy announcements today in the world of Smartphones.  First, and more important, Palm finally announced the launch date and price of the much anticipated Palm Pre.  The phone will launch June 6 for $299.  There will be a $100 rebate bringing the price to $199.  The phone will be available from Best Buy, Radio Shack and, of course, Sprint stores.  Several accessories will be available, including the charging station and car adaptor. 

The timing of the launch is a bit odd given that Apple has its day a few days later.  Apple is expected to announce a new version of the iPhone.  I will leave it to the Apple fan sites to speculate on what Apple will announce.

The other announcement was interesting.  Microsoft’s new Windows Marketplace for Mobile will, like the iPhone store, allow you to purchase and download apps directly to the phone.  The difference, however, is that the Windows Marketplace for Mobile will allow you to install the application on up to five devices.  So, if you have a personal phone and work phone, you will be able to install the application on both.  The twist here, is that you can also SHARE the application with friends as long as you authorize their phone.  This is an interesting and compelling feature and one that definitely sets this app store apart from the rest. On the surface, though, this does not look all that great for developers.  However, I think if an application is compelling enough that you would want it on multiple phones, you would probably be more inclined to buy another application from that same developer.  Likewise, if you did share the app with a friend, that friend is more apt to purchase apps from the same developer.  I think this is a win-win for both the consumer and the developer.

• The Hubble Space Telescope got a major upgrade of its systems.  The crew from the shuttle Atlantis repaired failed systems and upgraded others.  The fourth space walk was conducted on Sunday and the last will be Monday.  The Hubble launched in 1990 and was quickly deemed a failure because of an imperfection in the mirror:  Hubble was near sighted.  A repair mission in 1993 installed a corrective lens-glasses, essentially-and we’ve been getting stunning pictures ever since.  The Hubble is named after Astronomer Edwin Hubble.
• Intel found to be in violation of EU antitrust and fined 1.06 billion Euros (about 1.45 billion US dollars.) The Commission found that between October of 2002 and December of 2007, Intel gave partial or whole hidden rebates to computer makers that purchased all or almost of their x86 CPUs from Intel.
• Latest Mac OS X update results in blue screens for some.  Apple pushed out Mac OS X 10.5.7 to its users, but things have not been very smooth for some.  Among the issues users have experienced are the dreaded blue screen of death upon reboot; some external drives are no longer mounting; some video cards are not outputting the native resolutions of the display.  What happened to ‘just works?’
• Node 3 of the International Space Station is complete.  Known as ‘Tranquility’, the node is the last module from Europe.  It was built by Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy.  When attached to the station, it will house life support gear and will also house a large bay window called the Cupola.  Shuttle Endeavour will launch the module in February of 2010.
• Google says it is ‘sorry.’  Google experienced yet more network slowdowns or service disruptions last week.  They say ‘An error in one of our systems caused us to direct some of our traffic through Asia.’  Whatever.  I think I will continue using my desktop-based productivity suite and mail clients, thank you.

Lifehacker did it again…they introduced me to another really cool little application to make things a little easier.  In this case, the application called TiltShiftGenerator.  The application automates the creation of tiltshift photos. 

Tiltshifting is the art of making a photo of a real life setting look like it is fake or a model.  I explained how to do it using some tools like Adobe Photoshop Elements.  This application makes it really easy.

You can download it here.  The application is an Adobe Air application, so you will need to download and install the Air runtime if you do not already have it.

Once installed, creating your fake reality is simple and fast.  Start the application and click the OPEN button.  Select a photo (one of a city, town, amusement park, racetrack, etc. is best) and then adjust the focal point by clicking the area on the photo.  the blur tool will then move to the cursor location.   The effect using the default settings is pretty good.  You can tweak the results by sliding the appropriate sliders left or right.  The sliders I tend to adjust are the Strength under Vignetting and the Center Radius and Strength under Blur.  Once you have the photo the way you want, click Save.  NOTE:  the application will not put the extension on the file if you delete the default filename and put your own.  You must put the complete filename in the box.

The application is free.

Links:

• TiltShiftMaker
• Lifehacker
• Post on Tiltshift photos

The Digital Decor TV Picture Viewer, as I’ve written about in previous posts, features video playback and, for quite some time, I searched for information on how to encode video for this device.  In my last post, I wrote about using Prism Video Converter and DivX to do the transcoding.  I am achieving fairly decent and consistent results now and I thought I would share it with you.

What you will need:

• DivX v6 or higher
• Prism Video Converter (or comparable application)
• Patience

Disclaimer:  your mileage will vary.  What I am about to post is based on my own experiences and may not necessarily translate into success for others.

The one ‘positive’ about the device is that the video output quality is less than stellar, so that fact will mask some of the degradation of quality.  I don’t I’d want to watch the new Star Trek movie on this device, but it is more than adequate for downloaded YouTube videos, home made videos and most downloaded and DRM free movies.  Old black and white material will look pretty good and will playback a bit more smooth as well.

OK, lets dive in.

Fire up your converter software.  I am using Prism Video Converter Plus.  I liked the free version so much, I spent the twenty bucks and purchased the ‘plus’ version.  It gives you a bit more control and handles more formats.  I also purchased DivX PRO for the additional control you have.  These instructions will be specific to Prism, but the method should apply to other software.  

• In Prism, click the Add File(s) icon.  When the dialog opens, find your video file and select it. 
• Click OK
• Select .avi for the output format 
• In the Encoder Options, select the Divx compressor (NOT DivX Filter) 
• Click the Video compression settings
• Select the Mobile Profile
• Leave ‘Encoding Presets’ unchecked
• Under rate control, select 1 pass
• Set the bitrate to something between 200 and 300.  300 will push the device and can cause stutter
• Click the Codec tab
• Under Encoding mode, select Fastest OR High Performance
• Set the Max Keyframe interval to 30
• Click OK
• The Divx window should disappear and you will see the Prism Encoding settings window
• Select MPEG Layer-3 for the Sound compressor
• Select 64k Bit/s, 24,000 Hz, Stereo as the Sound format
• Click OK
• Click Convert
• When the process is complete, copy the resulting video file to a memory card and play in the TV Picture Video

You can tweak the settings under the Divx setup panels to get your desired results.  A bitrate of around 250 seems to be a good compromise between quality and smooth playback.  Of course, the lower the bitrate, the smoother the device plays, but the video will be blockier.

I’ve not tried doing the conversion with software since this setup seems to work well.  If you achieve better results, please share them with us. 

This little device may actually live up the expectations I had for it:  use as a small DV player.  Kind of a Roku like device for SD cards.  And for video podcasts, home video and old movies, I think it work nicely.

Links:

• Prism
• Divx

The once and mighty Atari has, once again, fallen on desperate times.  Atari, originally founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, is the company that just won’t stay dead.  The company started off life in 1972 as an arcade game manufacturer.  Pong, its first hit product, was the first successful arcade video game.  Bushnell and company repackaged the game for home use and made a small mint.  Unfortunately, between 1974 and 1977, so did everyone else.  By 1975, General Instruments had developed a ‘pong on a chip’ that enabled cheap pong clones to flood the market.

Not to be outdone, Atari was already hard at work developing the next big thing:  the programmable video game computer.  Atari, however, was not bringing in enough cash to make and manufacture the new product.  So, Bushnell sells majority control of the company to Warner Brothers.  Atari now has the capitol to fund the new product.

While initially, sales were slow, Atari scored a coup when they got the home rights to Space Invaders.  Sales picked up and by 1980, the VCS was king.  1980 to 1982 were banner years for Atari.  And they were decent years for Mattel with Intellivision.  But, as with seven years earlier, everyone was in on the game and putting out some really bad products.  Emerson, for example, released the Arcadia.  Arcadia was an odd console and seated between Intellivision and VCS.  They, like others, had few, if any, real licenses for arcade games and, at the time, the arcade was THE place the hot, new games.  Arcadia debuted as a bargain bin console and games were hard to find.  By mid-1983, the bottom was starting to fall.  January of 1984 brought hard times for all.  Mattel shut down its games division.  Atari was bleeding red ink.  Colecovision was about to fall hard thanks to Adam.

Atari was working on a new console, the 7800, that was going to save the company.  Warner, however, decided to sell Atari to Commodore founder, Jack Tramiel.  Tramiel was not interested in home video games and shelved the ready to release 7800.  Atari had warehouses full of games and consoles that were supposed to be in the pipeline, but were not. 

Nintendo, however, believed that the American market was ready for its console and they released the Nintendo Entertainment System and by 1986, they had the market to themselves.  Atari, realizing that they should have products out the door, finally released the 7800.  It was just short of a dismal failure.  Desperate, once again, they re-introduced the VCS, now called the Atari 2600 JR.  Sales were brisk for awhile, but did not last.  Atari introduced a bevy of repackaged consoles made from various Atari computers minus the keyboards, but none caught on.

1993 saw the introduction of the Jaguar, Atari’s last original console.  The machine failed to catch on.  Nintendo and Sega were firmly entrenched in the market and 1995 saw Sony enter the market with the Playstation juggernaut.  Atari could do little right.  Even the computer market was gone.  The Tramiels wanted out.  In a really bizarre turn, small disk drive maker, JTS, acquire the larger Atari company.  It then promptly disappeared.

Hasbro Interactive purchased the assets and Atari name from JTS for five million dollars, quite a bargain. Hasbro then began to release some of Atari’s more well known games in new formats and the public became reacquainted with the brand.  In 2000, Infogrames took over Hasbro and, in the process, they got Atari.  In October of 2001, Infogrames announced that they were changing the name of the company to Atari, Inc.  

Once again, the mighty name was shining bright along with its ‘fuji’ logo.  2005 and 2006 saw the releases of ‘plug and play’ versions of classic Atari games in cases that resembled the 7800 and the 2600.  The Atari Flashback 2, the 2600 version, was an actual 2600 and could be hacked to play real cartridges.  Unfortunately, Atari fell on hard times again.  A third planned device has yet to hit the market.

In March of 2009, Atari’s European parent company, Infogrames/Atari, announced that it was selling its 66% stake in its distribution and marketing company to Namco Bandai.  Atari Europe will shut down in a matter of weeks and its employees will go to Namco Bandai.  And so ends Atari’s European presence.

Atari US is still in business, for now.  They have announced that they will not attend the E3 conference this year.  Missing E3, perhaps the biggest marketing opportunity outside of the holiday season, is not a good thing.  They have cancelled a number of projects and appear to be reaching for the oxygen tank.

If there ever were a company to look at and ask ‘What the hell happened?’ this would be the one.  From Bushnell’s cavalier days in the company, to Warner not really understanding what it had, to the mismanagement and missed opportunities of the Tramiel era to the downright weird JTS thing, Atari has always managed to survive.  I have to wonder what could have been had Atari said ‘yes’ to Nintendo when that company offered up the NES to Atari.  What would have been had Atari proceeded with the 7800 in 1984 and really pushed it.  If they had not focused on computers as much.  For now, though, the invaders have not won…yet.

As I have mentioned in the past, I am primarily a Lotus Notes developer for the company I work for and have been for some 14 years now.  I began Notes development with version 3 of the product.  Back then, Notes was really primitive and the only real programmability that it had was the Notes ‘Formula’ language, which roughly equates to the old Lotus 123 macro language with the Notes enhancements.  Version four came along and introduced the somewhat object oriented Lotusscript language, which was syntax compatible with Microsoft Visual Basic.  Suddenly, a whole world of ‘real’ development opportunities opened up in the Notes universe.  Each successive release of the product introduced more tools and features that made Notes a truly unique and very flexible platform.  One constant, however, was the insistence of Lotus to put in AND USE a ton of undocumented functions, statements and commands. 

The problem with the use of these ‘features’, however, is that they never seemed to be fully baked and Lotus never guarantees that they will always be there.  However, when they use them in the templates that ship with the product, chances are they will remain.  And, for the most part, it’s not a huge problem.

Not a huge problem unless, of course, you stray from Lotus’ ‘norm’.  The company I work for is in the process of implementing Microsoft Exchange and Outlook as our primary email system.  Co-existence should be fine, right?  Many, many companies have done this before.  Great.  So, now we’ve gotten a good ways into the switch over and…Houston, we have a problem.

Like any company of any size, we like to hold meetings.  Lots of meetings.  That means we have lots of conference rooms.  Those conference rooms are all reserved via Notes and, eventually, Outlook/Exchange.  So.  Now we have a mixture of clients-some on Notes mail and some on Exchange/Outlook.  Enter the Resource Reservation application that Lotus provides.  We tend to not modify the out of box templates, so the Resource Reservation application is pristine.  We have not sullied its shiny exterior at all. 

Before I go on, however, here’s a bit on how we are routing mail.  Since we are keeping our Notes applications and servers, most of which send and/or receive mail, we will still have Notes mail working.  Each of our users has a Notes ID and, consequently, an entry in the global Notes address book.  So that mail get routed to the proper recipient, we have the Exchange address in the ‘Forwarding address’ field.

Ok, back to the Resource Reservation database.  This thing worked great, as long as we were all on Notes mail.  Now, however, because of Lotus’ use of an undocumented function (@ExpandNamesList) the application is now broken.  The problem comes in when groups are specified as resource owners.  The function is supposed to take the group name and, based on the server and address book you specified in the @ExpandNamesList function, return all of the member names.  It SHOULD return the Abbreviated Notes Name (i.e. first lastname/ou/company).  Well, it does that IF you do not have that forwarding address filled in.  If you DO, though, it returns that!  This causes the validations to fail and results in members of the group not being able to do anything with the resource. 

Now, tell me, why in the world would Lotus code this function that way?  Chances are that any one using this function would be doing so to validate a persons membership in a group or ability to do something.  If one needed the forwarding address, then just open the person document and get it.  It is half baked ideas like this one that has cost Lotus its lead in collaboration and groupware.  They are all over the map, both with marketing, support and the bloody features in the product.  Returning the forwarding address instead of the name is just ridiculous.  What in hell were they thinking?

Of course, they use the function liberally in the Resource application: it is in Lotusscript, field formulas, hide-when formulas and anywhere else they could shove it.  Why?  Now we have to spin our wheels and waste time working around Lotus’ shortcuts. 

I was a die hard Lotus fan for years.  Notes was the bomb.  There wasn’t anything I could not do with Notes.  Buuuuut….the more I have to deal with crap like this, the more I yearn for the day when the mess is just gone.  Give me the Microsoft Kool-Aid and I will gulp it down happily.

Several months ago, I bought a couple HP photo book kits.  They make nice gifts and people really seem to like them.  I had been buying the Epson photo book kits or going to CVS Pharmacy and having them do the books-which, by the way, are very nicely done and not overly expensive.  Over the weekend, I decided to make one of the HP photo books.

Now, mind you, I have TWO HP computers-a desktop and a laptop-and I also have an HP all in one printer.  The software I was going to use was the included HP Photosmart Essentials 2.5, which came with the book kit, the printer AND on both computers.  So…one would think every should work correctly, right? HA!  I picked out the photos and selected the format and layout.  I get the photos laid out the way I wanted and then tried to print a draft of the first couple pages to make sure everything was correct before wasting any of the good photo paper. 

So, I click print and wait.  After a minute, I am greeted with an error message telling there was an error with the printer.  So, I double check everything, power cycle the printer and try again.  Same thing.  So, then I moved the project over to the laptop and try there.  Same problem.  At that point, I go online to look for the problem.  Of course, HP’s ever so helpful website provided no answers.  I don’t know why I even bothered.  I don’t think I have ever found any helpful information there. The user forums were also devoid of any help.

I turn to Google and came up empty.  Surely, I am not the only one who has this problem.  I had noticed that there was a version 3.5 that specifically stated it was for XP and Vista.  So I install that.  Same result.  Frustrated, I remembered I still had the Epson software, which always worked with my HP printers.  So, I found one of the discs and installed the software.  I then set out to recreate the book.  The Epson software was far more flexible than the Photosmart software.  I could include nearly double the photos.  I didn’t do that, but I did add several more photos to make the book a bit more inclusive. 

I finished up the book and then printed a couple of test pages.  They printed without a hitch.  I loaded up the photo paper that came in the kit and then printed the book.  It took about seven minutes to print the ten page book, but the quality was really, really nice.  I’m certainly glad I hung on to that Epson software. It was easy to use and installed quickly and easily.  The software, called Epson Story Teller Publisher, is available from the Epson website and I highly recommend it.

I’m a fan of HP hardware, but its software offering leaves much to be desired.  The Essentials package tends to crash, anytime I insert a memory card or connect a device with photos, the Essentials package pops up and tries to import the material. Inevitably, it crashes.  And that software was PRE-INSTALLED on this Vista Home Premium 64 bit machine.  HP update NEVER, EVER works.  And the bloody ‘health check’ will not go away.  I deleted the damn executable and it came back!  I finally got rid of it on my desktop by uninstalling all of the HP crapware except the Photosmart stuff, which I am now thinking it needs to go as well.

The HP photobook kit, however, was nice.  It included an easy to use cover and quality photo paper. To insert the pages, you pulled the front and back cover backward, so the ends touch, and then slide the paper in the binding.  When you release, the pages are nice and snug.  It also makes it easy to add or remove pages.  The kits were about two dollars each, but I bought them at Circuit City as they were going out of business.  They normally sell for $19.99 for 8x10 version.

Links:

• Epson Storyteller Publisher software (5x7)
• Epson Storyteller Publisher software (8x10, 10pages)
• Epson Storyteller Publisher software (8x10, 20pages)
• HP Photo book kits

Some weeks ago I posted a rant about the Zune.  At the time, I was having all kinds of problems with the software…the device-other than the one day hiccup at the end of 2008-has yet to give me any real problems.  The problems I was having with the software seem to have coincided with some issues that Zune Net had plus a seeming issue with Vista 64 bit.  Well, since then, the problems seem to have gone away.  And now that I have Windows 7 installed, it has been working just fine. 

I don’t know that I’ll be buying many television shows from the service, since I don’t have a newer Zune and the Zune 30 is not the best video playback device-at least when used on a decent television.  But I will buy a few songs now and then.  I am still looking forward to the Palm Pre and its multimedia capability.  It would be better to carry one device than two.  And, no, the Motorola Q is NOT a good multimedia device.  The more i use that, the less I like it. 

And, by the way, Microsoft has a new commercial out that is touting the benefits of the Zune Pass.  In it, they compare purchasing 120gb of songs for an iPod  with the $15 a month Zune Pass.  If one were to actually purchase enough music to fill up 120gb device, it would run around $30 thousand dollars.  Of course, most people won’t be doing that so the commercial is a bit disingenuous. Still, though, there are those who will purchase a tremendous amount of material from iTunes and will spend quite a bit of money doing so.  The Zune Pass is a great deal for those who wish to try out new music, download temporary music such as for parties or holiday gatherings.  Also, the ability to download ten tracks a month to keep makes the pass even more attractive.  Take away the cost of the ten tracks and you pay about five dollars a month for all you can eat music.  Not too bad at all.

This morning I took my son to see the Star Trek movie.  He’s not much into science fiction and even less so for Star Trek.  I was hoping that the movie would sway him.  Alas, it failed to so. But, that is, however, not totally the films fault.  He is only 11 and the direction, style and story were a bit too adult and, unfortunately, most of the film went over his head.  I fell victim to the pre-release hype in that you did not need to be fan of the show or know little about it.  I think that is a bit overstated, but most people should still enjoy the film but you might want to think twice about taking younger children, especially if they are like my son and don’t care much for the genre.  Also, the film is rather loud and contains explosions and a phaser battle that got rather loud.  It may startle younger children. There is also a scene where young Kirk is intimate with one of the green ladies featured in Enterprise and the original show.

Children aside, there is much to like about the film.  The cast, for one, is spot on.  Chris Pine, while lacking the Shatner approach to acting, is very believable as James Kirk.  And Zachary Quinto is the perfect choice for Spock.  Not only did he look like a young Nimoy, but he WAS Spock in just about every way.  The conflicting Human and Vulcan emotions came through and interactions with the Human crew were nearly perfect.  The actors portraying McCoy, Sulu and Uhura all did a fine job, but Simon Pegg stole every scene he was in. Pegg played a young Scotty.  Pegg does not look James Doohan at all, but he did have the character perfected.  He was funny and added some much need humor to the movie. 

J.J. Abrams managed to not only capture the essence of the original show, but he also infused quite a few old Trekisms in to movie.  And, for me, the movie very cleanly ‘fixes’ Star Trek Enterprise.  Many of that shows critics bashed Enterprise for taking ‘liberties’ with the mythos.  Well, this movie justifies quite a bit of that.  The new ‘mythos’ takes place in an alternate future that fits what was written for Enterprise.  There is even an acknowledgement of Captain Archer when Scotty, while explaining why he was where he was, says that Admiral Archer did not appreciate him using his Beagle to test a long range transporter.  Yes, I know that Archer’s time was quite a few years before this movie would have taken place, but if McCoy could live to 130 as he did in Next Generation, why can’t Archer?

The film has created an entirely new universe with the potential to tell new stories or even retell some of the old stories but with a new twist. The movie is open ended and also leaves the possibility for Nimoy to participate.  I won’t say anything more about the plot, but suffice it to say the story was not only well done, kept the cheese factor to a minimum and maintains just enough continuity so it satisfies old fans while not making it so cryptic that it would alienate those new to Star Trek.  I think this film will generate quite a few fans, just as the Next Generation did twenty two years ago.  And since this cast is pretty young, and assuming they all reprise their roles, I suspect Star Trek can remain fresh for many more years to come.

Regardless of you being a Trek fan or not, see this movie, it is well worth the price of admission.

The first FPS (first person shooter) that I can remember playing was Wolfenstien 3D.  From that game, I went on to other games like Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem3d and others.  During that same period, though, I also fell in love with the cool 2d side scroller platform games from Apogee.  One of the games was the original Duke Nukem and when 3D Realms brought out the Duke Nukem 3d game, I was ecstatic.  One of my favorite games was modernized and became a 3d game.  How cool was that? 

I eagerly looked for and downloaded other 3D Realms demos and would, every now and then, splurge and buy a game based solely on the playable demo.  I thought Apogee and 3D Realms were tops and that they would go on and on, redefining gaming several times.  Unfortunately,  that did not happen.  While they managed to hang on for 21 years, 3D Realms and Apogee have shut down.

Many things probably led to the closure of the gaming studios.  I’m sure the economy and the over all PC gaming slump did not help.  The perpetually in development Duke Nukem Forever-started in 1999-did not do much to help them out either.  And, sadly, that game will never see the light of CD/DVD/BluRay either.

I have many fond memories of both studios and am sad to see them go.  They really did set the bar high, early on, and maintained a style and quality that was unique.

Good bye and good luck to all involved.

You can read the farewell here.

I got an email today from our friends at Comcast.  The email, very enthusiastically, proclaimed that my internet service speed had been increased and, depending on your current subscription plan, it doubled in speed for both upload and download.  If you have the basic service, which is 6mbps, you now have 12mbps and so on.  It announced that this increase in service was because they had implemented the new Docsis 3.0 upgrade.  Fair enough.  My problem with this-and, I’m not complaining-is that I *THINK* I already had the Blast! service and anyone with the Blast! service will not see much improvement other than the upload speed is now 2Mbps instead of 1Mbps.  OK, so no speed improvement and that is OK.  However, those who had the Performance PLUS plan are now on the Blast! plan.  And that’s my beef.  Unless I am reading the email and the Help and Support page wrong, there is no increase in cost-which is as it should be.  So, I’ve been paying extra for this Blast! service and now those who were paying for the lower priced Performance PLUS plan now get the same thing I am paying more for…am I missing something?  And, even if I am wrong about what I am getting, those who are paying for the Blast! plan should be upset.  Is Comcast going to lower that plan now or are they going to charge the newcomers more? Either way, seems someone did not fully flesh this out.

The Docsis 3.0 rollout also brings along two more plans:

• Ultra: 22Mbps down and 5Mbps up (30Mbps down and 7Mbps up with PowerBoost)
• Extreme 50: 50Mbps down and 10Mbps up, no PowerBoost here.

Don’t misunderstand me, however.  I am glad to see Comcast increasing the speeds like this without, seemingly, increasing our costs.   I hope this trend continues.

And, by the way, while Comcast’s stated bandwidth cap is 250gb, which is more generous than others, I am still bothered by that limit.  What incentive do I have to actually take full advantage of this service if I have wonder how close I am to this limit.  I now watch much less on line video than I used to, I am more selective in what I download (and almost passed up on the Windows 7 download because of its size and not knowing how close I am to that limit.)  The increase in speed is nice, but I find myself wondering what good it will do me with an artificially imposed limit on much I can use.  I started out with what was supposed to be ‘all you can eat, no limits’ way back in the 1999 or 2000 when it was Excite@Home.  Somehow, over the years, that became ‘all you can eat, up to xxx’.  To be fair, I have to say that Comcast has greatly improved the stability and uptime of the service.  I experience relatively few interruptions now.  Customer service is a bit better, no doubt due to the Twitter presence they have.  In fact, I recently tweeted one of the Comcast Cares Twitter people and asked about the consumption of services such as Hulu and Comcast’s own Fancast service.  I had thought that maybe the Fancast service would not count against me.  This person responded, very honestly, that, yes, in fact it would count.  I appreciate the responsiveness and honesty of the people they have monitoring Twitter.

Anyway, those who have the updated service may have to power down and back up the Cable Modem in order for the service to work.  I believe there is a moderate increase for me, but that might be a psychological thing-I want to believe!

Kudos to Comcast for the overall improvement to not only the service, but to its customer service as well.

I’ve been playing around with various operating systems lately, all in a VirtualBox environment.  I tried out the new Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope distribution and was completely underwhelmed.  While gnome has been improved and you do not have to drop to a command line (sorry, terminal session) to many of the things you used to have resort to terminal to do, it is still a confusing mess of a desktop.  For some reason, right-click on most things no longer works.  The system immediately found 76 updates and that took awhile to install. 

The gui is just a mess, it reminds of when Microsoft had just released Windows 95 and many applications were trying to work with both Windows 95 and Windows 3.11.  Ugly. The mix of UI elements was just weird.  I don’t know if the installation was hosed or if the odd mix of UI style is just the way things are in Linux land.  My eyes hurt after awhile.

And the barrage of UAC – like dialogs got real old as well.  And this really just ticks me off.  Every version of Ubuntu I’ve tried has had these UAC like dialog boxes, yet that seems to be OK with people.  Vista comes along and does the SAME BLOODY THING and people bitch up a storm. 

I am thinking that Ubuntu just isn’t for me.  It is a confusing jumble and an utter mess.  The older version I had actually installed on an old PC was better.  I think that was 6.04, but I don’t remember.  They seem to have taken a big step backward.

Another OS I have been playing with is ReactOS.  ReactOS is a Windows wannabe.  It is an open source project to emulate Windows XP.  It appears to be coming along nicely and is almost usable as a daily OS.  Still has many bugs and things do not look as they should, but if you have an older box that needs a quick OS, give this a try. 

Links:

• ReactOS
• Ubuntu
• VirtualBox