Steve's Geek Speak

How to deal with Bandwidth Bandits

Steve — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:13:46 +0000

So I was going through my Apache logs for the first time in a very long time. Its just not been a high priority for me. But what I did notice is that two of my blogs, especially stevesgeekspeak.com, have had their bandwidth stolen quite significantly by a few Russian forum websites hotlinking to images on them. Here's a bit of a story and tutorial about how I dealt with the issue using mod_rewrite rules in my .htaccess files.

Google Plus Adds Games, Gives Away Your Private Info

Steve — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 03:10:50 +0000

Google Plus has now got Games support. Great. Except that one of the permissions games can ask for (and often get) is for a list of all the people you interact with across all Google sites, apps and web properties. Not just those limited to solely on Google Plus. This bothers me a HUGE amount.

My digital lifestyle and why I am so excited for your future

Steve — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:24:21 +0000

A discussion about my current state of technology, and my Digital Lifestyle. I talk about why I love riding the cutting edge of technology and how I am starting to see friends and family get to the place today that I was four years ago. That excites me because I know what is ahead for them and how amazing that will be for them.

Microsoft still losing big online

Steve — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 03:07:45 +0000

Microsoft has gone from one of the most influential companies in the IT world, to just another vendor. You get their Windows, Office and Server platforms and stick an XBOX under the TV. But outside of those four divisions within Microsoft, most people completely ignore the company. Everyone knows Bing exists, but when was the…

Google Plus – Its not Facebook

Steve — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:31:55 +0000

To help friends and family and anyone else get to grips with Google Plus, I wanted to share with you a little bit about the mind set of using Google Plus. In this post I argue the case that you shouldn't use Google Plus expecting it to be anything at all like Facebook or Twitter or any other network you have used in the past. It is something totally new that builds on the best of the past. To ease the shock, I discuss a little about circles and also how permissions work. I like to articles and posts that will help you set up your Google Plus environment the way you want it. Even one that describes how to create a stream that somewhat emulates the Facebook News Feed.

Google Plus – A very good start

Steve — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 07:52:51 +0000

I've had the opportunity to really dig in to Google Plus. I thought I'd share my initial impressions of the still-in-beta/actively-developing service after only a couple of days use. Where do I see the service now? Where does it fit into the Social Network landscape and what sets it apart from the other more established services out there?

What Microsoft’s buy of Skype means to me

Steve — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:39:21 +0000

There are several issues that I think some people are missing regarding Microsoft’s buy of Skype. Skype is fully IP based. It relies only on a data connection and its biggest user base is OUTSIDE the US. I use it almost exclusively in place of a land line. I use it on my Android phone,…

HOWTO: Convert lots of JPEG images into a movie

Steve — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 05:08:47 +0000

First, if you are just looking for a script that will do this for you, jump to the code and take what you need. However, this post is a full tutorial that explains not only how it works, but the methodology behind getting it working. If you are impatient, the code block is halfway down…

No, I haven’t become anti-Nokia

Steve — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:43:01 +0000

Recently a friend suggested I have become "anti-Nokia" but I'd really like to set the record straight on that. What follows is a long discourse on why I gave up on Nokia and what I think their biggest failure is when it comes to guys like myself. This is from someone that has been using Nokia phones since 1995 and been loyal to the Symbian platform since 2001. This is why I gave up on Nokia and Symbian.

MS SBS – Getting too complex?

Steve — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:25:33 +0000

Is Microsoft Small Business Server becoming too complex as its feature set grows? What are some possible ways of mitigating the effect without compromising on capability?